James Hamilton

University of Wisconsin-Platteville, USA

Title: Cleaner than a Cleanroom: Peelable Polymer Coatings Generate Atomically Clean Surfaces on LIGO, EUV Space Mirrors & Lithography Optics

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Biography

James Hamilton is a Wisconsin Distinguished Professor and a renowned expert in physical and analytical chemistry. He is the founder of two companies, Xolve Inc. and Photonic Cleaning Technologies, the latter of which manufactures First Contact Polymers, a product sold in 79 countries worldwide. He lectures in Chemistry at the University of Wisconsin-Platteville, where he also conducts cutting-edge research on contamination control for precision optical and aerospace surfaces, as well as in areas like nanoparticle thermodynamics and nanocomposite materials. He earned a BA and completed graduate studies in Inorganic Chemistry and Surface Science at the University of Maine-Orono, before earning a Ph.D. in 1994 from the University of Wisconsin-Madison in Physical and Analytical Chemistry, specializing in Coherent Nonlinear Optics, Spectroscopy, and Atomic, Molecular, and Optical Physics (AMO). Dr. Hamilton collaborates globally, advancing both academic and industrial research in his fields of expertise.

Abstract

Creating and maintaining unprecedented cleanliness levels has become a limiting technological requirement for projects like LIGO, future Starshade technology and mirrors for NASA’s Great Observatories of the future like the Habitable World’s Observatory that will have EUV capabilities.  Over the last 20 years, we have developed a family of peelable residue-free, non-tearing polymer coatings that safely clean and protect surfaces.  These Apply-Dry-Peel coatings begin to fill the technology gap that exists in a) trying to clean historically uncleanable nanostructured and coated surfaces as well as in b) meeting the zero dust tolerance requirements of high energy laser optics and some semiconductor processes. This family of First Contact Polymers (FCPs) was a critical, enabling technology in LIGO’s gravitational wave discoveries of 2015, NASA’s Starshade technology and can greatly extend the lifetime of current mirror coatings on large astronomical mirrors such as the 10meter class mirrors at the Keck Observatory and GTC in the Canary Islands.  This presentation will present selected data and research results in support of such physics projects worldwide.