Kang Group

Our group focuses on two research areas: advanced laser materials processing and energy technology.

In advanced laser materials processing, ultrafast lasers are used to understand light-matter interactions and to develop direct-writing techniques to fabricate functional material structures in 2D and 3D. Ultrafast lasers allow confinement in temporal space, in addition to the spatial component, enabling increased control over heat transfer and photon dynamics for various applications. In energy technology, we explore various energy storage materials and perform characterization studies to acquire fundamental understanding of the energy storage mechanism.

The two research areas create a synergy through exchange of fundamental knowledge acquired in each area and by utilizing laser processing techniques as a powerful tool-kit to ablate, modify, or create materials. Our long term goal is to resolve the imbalance between theoretical advancements and experimental realizations and to aid in technology transfer from lab-scale to manufacturing. For example, development in advanced laser materials processing techniques will resolve many problems arising during large-scale manufacturing and the understanding gained from studying the mechano-electrochemical coupling will resolve the mechanical stress evolution issue which is one of the main problems in large-scale manufacturing of energy storage systems.