>> WE HOPE TO BUILD
UPON THE RESULTS FROM
OUR PREVIOUS ACE EXPERIMENTS
AND OUR NEXT STEP
AND IT'S SOMETHING WE'RE
CURRENTLY BUILDING IS GOING
TO APPLY ELECTRIC FIELDS.
NOW, PEOPLE HAVE STUDIED
ELECTRIC FIELDS
AND HOW THEY MANIPULATE
COLLOIDS FOR DECADES.
FOR EXAMPLE, YOU CAN CONTROL
THE SPACING BETWEEN
TWO DIFFERENT COLLOIDS,
AS WELL AS POTENTIALLY
MANIPULATE THEIR CRYSTALLINITY,
WHETHER YOU WANT TO FORM
CRYSTALS OR DISPERSE THEM
ON DEMAND.
SO BY TUNING THE VOLTAGE,
TUNING SAY TO AC FREQUENCY,
YOU CAN MANIPULATE
THE CRYSTALLINITY,
MANIPULATE THEIR AGGLOMERATION,
AND THAT'S THE NEXT PHASE
THAT WE WANNA DO.
NOW, RECALL THAT
WE'RE MANIPULATING
BOTH MICROPARTICLES
AND NANOPARTICLES
SIMULTANEOUSLY SO WE'RE
INTRIGUED TO DETERMINE
HOW ELECTRIC FIELDS
WILL MANIPULATE NOT JUST
THE MICROPARTICLES
BUT THE NANOPARTICLES
WITHIN THEM AS WELL.
SO, THIS IS AN UNDEREXPLORED
AREA AND WE'RE CURRENTLY
DEVELOPING A PLATFORM
THAT WILL GO ON
THE INTERNATIONAL SPACE STATION
TO HELP FURTHER
THESE DISCOVERIES.
WE HOPE TO LATER
INCORPORATE QUANTUM DOTS
WITHIN OUR NANOPARTICLE
HALOING SAMPLES.
IN THAT, WITH RESPECT
TO SOLAR PANELS, IS THAT
WE HOPE TO INCORPORATE
THOSE QUANTUM DOTS
AND INVESTIGATE
THOSE SPECIFIC ARRANGEMENTS
AND HOW THEY CAN ENHANCE
THE SOLAR PANEL EFFICIENCIES.
WITH COLLOID MANIPULATION,
WHEN YOU APPLY
AN EXTERNAL FIELD,
WHETHER THAT FIELD IS
GRAVITATIONAL EFFECTS,
ELECTRIC FIELDS,
TEMPERATURE, MAGNETIC FIELDS.
WITH ALL OF THESE
MANIPULATION TECHNIQUES
YOU CAN IN THEORY MANIPULATE
NOT ONLY THE CRYSTALLINITY
OF THESE COLLOIDS BUT ALSO
THE SPACE IN BETWEEN THEM.
AND IF YOU CAN DYNAMICALLY
MANIPULATE THESE PARTICLES
IN THEIR SPACING YOU CAN
CONTROL, FOR EXAMPLE,
OPTICAL PROPERTIES,
WHERE THEY MANIPULATE LIGHT
IN A CERTAIN DIRECTION
OR THEY'RE SELECTED TO
A CERTAIN WAVELENGTH OF LIGHT,
YOU CAN MANIPULATE
THEIR MECHANICAL PROPERTIES,
AND ALSO
THEIR THERMAL PROPERTIES.
SO NOW YOU HAVE
A DYNAMICALLY TUNABLE MATERIAL
THAT COULD BE USED FOR
A VARIETY OF APPLICATIONS.
THERE'S A LOT OF RESEARCH
WITH RESPECT TO COLLOID SCIENCE
AND SOFT MATTER WHERE YOU CAN
MANIPULATE PARTICLES
AND AGGLOMERATE PARTICLES
AND THAT'S FINE.
THE NEXT BIG THING IS, SURE,
YOU CAN MANIPULATE THINGS
AT THAT SMALL LITTLE AREA
BUT NOW LET'S MAKE SOMETHING
THAT'S SEVERAL SQUARE INCHES,
SOMETHING SEVERAL
SQUARE CENTIMETERS,
OR EVEN LARGER.
NOT JUST IN 2D SPACE
BUT CAN YOU MAKE IT
MILLIMETERS THICK AS WELL.
MICROGRAVITY MIGHT
POTENTIALLY ENABLE VERY LARGE
CRYSTALLINE GROWTH
AND IF YOU CAN STILL
MANIPULATE AT THIS SCALE
IN TERMS OF USING
TEMPERATURE EFFECTS
OF ELECTRIC FIELDS YOU COULD
POTENTIALLY HAVE LARGER
3D CRYSTALS THAT ARE POSSIBLE
THAT CAN BE CREATED
IN A MICROGRAVITY ENVIRONMENT
THAT WOULD BE VERY CHALLENGING
TO CREATE ON EARTH.
LARGE 3D CRYSTALS
REALLY JUST ENABLES
THEIR INTEGRATION
WITH MATERIALS.
SO, WHETHER IT BE MAYBE
A SPECIAL COATING ON A CAR,
OR MAYBE IT IS A SPECIAL CRYSTAL
THAT IS USED WITHIN
A-A PROCESSOR ON A COMPUTER,
OR MAYBE WANNA HAVE
EFFICIENT HEAT TRANSFER.
SO LARGER CRYSTALS
WILL HELP ENABLE EITHER
OPTICAL MANIPULATION,
ELECTRICAL MANIPULATION,
THERMAL MANIPULATION INTO, SAY,
HANDHELD AND MACROSCALE DEVICES.
SO, THESE DISCOVERIES
OR THESE APPLICATIONS
ARE ONLY POSSIBLE WHEN
YOUR 3D CRYSTALS CAN BECOME
THE SIZE OF THE APPLICATION
THAT YOU ENVISION.
IF YOU HAVE A GLASS
ONE MICROMETER PARTICLE,
ON EARTH YOU CAN ONLY STUDY THAT
FOR ABOUT A FEW SECONDS
BEFORE IT SEDIMENTS OUT
AND REACHES THE BOTTOM
OF YOUR MICROFLUIDIC VESSEL.
ON THE SPACE STATION,
THEY CAN BE SUSPENDED
FOR EXTENDED PERIODS OF TIME.
SO, WE'RE TALKING WEEKS,
MONTHS LONGER, SO YOU CAN
MAKE SOME REALLY ASTUTE
AND VERY ACCURATE
MEASUREMENTS OF THESE
PARTICLE INTERACTIONS
DESPITE THEM BEING
RELATIVELY LARGE.
EVEN THOUGH THEY'RE STILL
MICROMETER IN SIZE
THEY'RE NOT GONNA
SETTLE OUT ANYMORE.
SO, WITH RESPECT TO THE STUDIES
ON THE SPACE STATION,
NOT ONLY CAN YOU STUDY THEM
BUT WHAT THE CONFOCAL MICROSCOPY
YOU CAN GET THAT
THREE DIMENSIONAL POSITIONING
OF THE PARTICLES AND GET
THREE DIMENSIONAL
CRYSTALLINITY INFORMATION
INSTEAD OF JUST A 2D PLANE
OR SHEET AND GETTING
THAT INFORMATION.
NOW, YOU HAVE A 3D CRYSTAL
THAT GIVES YOU MORE IN DEPTH
RESULTS BUT WITH RESPECT
TO THE EXPERIMENTS.
AND EVEN THOUGH
WE'RE DISAPPOINTED KNOWING THAT
THE LMM IS-IS COMING DOWN,
WHICH HAS PROVIDED A LOT
OF SIGNIFICANT RESEARCH,
BUT WE'RE ALSO LOOKING FORWARD
TO WHAT'S COMING UP NEXT.
BECAUSE ONE OF THE MOST
VALUABLE THINGS ABOUT THE LMM,
IS NOT-- IT'S NOT
JUST A MICROSCOPE, RIGHT?
IT DOESN'T JUST
VISUALIZE PARTICLES,
WHICH IS IMPORTANT.
YOU NEED TO DO THAT
IN ORDER TO GET GOOD SCIENCE,
BUT HAVING THE ABILITY
TO APPLY TEMPERATURES
AND THEN IN THE FUTURE
MAYBE APPLY OPTICAL MANIPULATION
WITH OPTICAL TWEEZERS,
MAYBE APPLY ELECTRIC FIELDS,
MAYBE APPLY MAGNETIC FIELDS.
SO HAVING THESE EXTERNAL
STIMULI SIMULTANEOUS
WITH JUST VIEWING IT
AND ALSO RE-REMOTELY CONTROLLING
THIS AND MANIPULATING THIS,
THAT'S WHERE THE REAL VALUE
FROM LMM COMES FROM AND THAT'S
WHERE THE SIGNIFICANT SCIENCE,
IN MY OPINION, CAN COME FROM
IS ACTUALLY NOT JUST
GO LOOKING AT IT
'CAUSE A PICTURE
CAN ONLY DO SO MUCH.
HAVING SOMETHING IN
A STATIC FLUID ENVIRONMENT
YOU CAN ONLY DO SO MUCH.
BUT WITH THESE MANIPULATION
SCHEMES, THAT'S WHERE
YOU CAN GET SOME
SIGNIFICANT SCIENCE
AND SIGNIFICANT VALUE.