Name of Sponsoring Organization: NASA Florida Space Grant Consortium
Sponsor Point of Contact (name): N/A
Email Address:
Name of Technical Mentor (i.e. Subject Matter Expert): Arash Takshi
TM Email Address:
Project Title: UV transmission of hydrophobic materials
Required EE Area(s) of Expertise: Only US Citizens are allowed
Brief Project Description: NASA is looking for a team of all US citizens to study the complex index refraction of a few hydrophobic materials including Hafnium Oxide (HfO2) and Zirconium oxide (ZrO2). The students have to submit a proposal to NASA Florida Space Grant Consortium (FSGC) by September 10, 2021 (https://floridaspacegrant.org/program/ksc-senior-design-projects/). The Technical Mentor (Dr. Takshi) provides assistance in submitting the proposal. If the project is funded, NASA will award the project up to $2000 toward the project expenses. The project scope is to design and build a system to measure the light absorption and the refraction angle of a thin film sample. The designed device should be able to measure the real and imaginary values of the refraction every 1-2 nm from 180 nm to 400 nm wavelength. The device will be used to measure the refraction index of HfO2 and ZrO2 samples and verify the measurements with a standard tool.
Major system products expected from this project: A. Design a microcontroller based system to measure the complex index refraction of a thin film sample. B. Conduct the scientific measurements of samples of HfO2 and ZrO2. C. Verifying the measurements with a standard method. D. Reporting the results of the measurements to NASA FSGC and documenting the design of the developed instrument.
Parts of the project that “Engineering Design” is expected (e.g., mathematical calculations and/or verification simulations):
The level of support (Time: technical guidance, materials, computing, financial, etc.) for the project. If no financial support will be provided, please offer an estimate of the Materials Cost: The team has to commit to meet regularly (weekly) with Dr. Takshi all through both semesters. Assistance will be provided to submit the proposal to NASA FSGC. The samples for testing will be provided. Financial support is available, if the team wins the NSAS award.