Laser technology: from micro to macro engineering applications

Date and Time: 
Wednesday, November 18, 2020 - 01:00pm
Speaker: 
Maurizio Manzo Ph.D.
Affiliation: 
Assistant Professor Department of Mechanical Engineering University of North Texas
Abstract: 
The use of lasers has been transforming our lives in applications such as data storage, bars code readers, eye surgery, communication, sensing, and additive manufacturing. This presentation will focus on some research activities performed at the Photonics Micro-Devices Fabrication Laboratory at UNT. Topics covered are: (i) neurotransducers-based microlasers for minimally invasive brain activity detection, where voltage sensitive spherical dye doped dielectric cavities can be fabricated using hydrodynamic focusing technique; (ii) laser ablation for surface cleaning, where laser technology is used to remove, safely and more environmentally friendly, marking stripes from paved roads; (iii) laser induced plasma breakdown spectroscopy used for iron oxides purity quantification. Other current research activities will be briefly introduced.
Biography: 
Dr. Maurizio Manzo is currently Assistant Professor at the Department of Mechanical Engineering in The College of Engineering, University of North Texas (UNT) and the director of the Photonics Micro-Devices Fabrication Laboratory. He previously was Assistant Professor in the Engineering Technology Department at the same institution. He has a background in Aerospace engineering (BS in 2009, and MS in 2011) from Universita’ degli Studi di Palermo, Italy and he holds Mechanical Engineering PhD (2015) from Southern Methodist University, Texas. From 2016 to 2017 he was Lecturer in the Mechanical and Industrial Engineering Department at the Texas A&M University- Kingsville. He joined UNT in Fall 17. During his training he has worked on the design, manufacture, and testing of micro-optical devices for sensing applications. Dr. Manzo’s expertise includes optics and metrology, biosensors, and experimental fluid mechanics. His current research interests include sensor’s development, instrumentation and flow diagnostic, and biomedical micro-devices. He is a regular organizer and presenter at international mechanical engineering conferences and has published papers in reputed journals. He is member of the American Society of Mechanical Engineering (ASME), the Optical Society of America, and the American Society for Engineering Education (ASEE).