Miles, Richard Professor

The use of lasers, electron beams, microwaves, electric discharges and magnetic devices to control, accelerate, extract power and precondition air and other gas mixtures for subsonic, supersonic and hypersonic fluid dynamics, standoff molecular detection and propulsion applications. Research is facilitated by the development of advanced laser diagnostics, which include temperature, velocity and density imaging by spectrally filtered Rayleigh scattering, molecular flow tagging by nonlinear excitation, standoff detection of selected atoms and molecules by radar scattering from laser generated ionization, and molecular detection by UV laser excited backward lasing in air. Research topics include examining microwave control of flame propagation; laser localized microwave energy addition for ignition control and lean combustion operation; stand-off detection of explosives, hazardous gases and greenhouse gases by laser/microwave techniques; flow velocity measurement by laser ionization tagged radar anemometry; molecular tagging of air and nitrogen by femtosecond laser electronic excitation; the role of high-power microwaves, nanosecond high voltage pulses, surface dielectric barrier discharges, electron beams and lasers in driving and controlling aerodynamic phenomena; MHD boundary layer control and power extraction for supersonic and hypersonic vehicle applications; magnetic and laser interactions with high speed materials; shape morphing high temperature ceramic materials for hypersonic applications; and plasma energy deposition for flow control and drag reduction for high speed vehicles.