Carmel Rotschild

Sunlight Reclaimed

Associate Prof. Carmel Rotschild

Faculty of Mechanical Engineering

GTEP new recruit, Associate Prof. Carmel Rotschild – who arrived in August 2011 at the Faculty of Mechanical Engineering from M.I.T., is aiming to increase the efficiency of photovoltaics by around 20 percent, by developing efficient appliances to convert the lost rays of the sun that silicon is unable to process. This involves the fusion (or up conversion) of infrared solar radiation to make that power accessible to silicon, and the fission (or down conversion) of radiation in the blue range to near infrared radiation, which could double their quantum efficiency in photovoltaics. The highly multidisciplinary approach includes the design and fabrication of nano-scale optical materials within an optical cavity, and Rotschild and his multidisciplinary team draws on expertise in nonlinear optics, material engineering, and energy transfer in molecules.