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A solar sail propelled small satellite mission concept to intercept and potentially rendezvous with newly discovered transient interstellar objects (ISOs) is described. The mission concept derives from the proposal for a technology…
The Starshot lightsail project aims to build an ultralight spacecraft ("nanocraft") that can reach Proxima Centauri b in approximately 20 years, requiring propulsion with a relativistic velocity of ~60 000 km/s. The spacecraft's…
This review on graphene, a one atom thick, two-dimensional sheet of carbon atoms, starts with a general description of the graphene electronic structure as well as a basic experimental toolkit for identifying and handling this material.…
The transverse radiation pressure force and acceleration is compared for two parametrically optimized designs: prismatic and two-pillar metasurface gratings. The numerical results were cross-verified with both Maxwell stress tensor and…
Two-dimensional graphene layers exhibit many fascinating properties which have sparkled into applied research with the aim to build innovative electronic devices. Here, we theoretically demonstrate that, when the carriers velocity is…
While silicon has dominated solid-state electronics for more than four decades, a variety of new materials have been introduced into photonics to expand the accessible wavelength range and to improve the performance of photonic devices. For…
Propellantless propulsion refers to methods of space travel that do not require onboard propellant, instead relying on natural forces or external energy sources. In this paper, I review different approaches that have been explored and…
Background: A solar sail presents a large sheet of low areal density membrane and is the most elegant propellant-less propulsion system for the future exploration of the Solar System and beyond. By today the study on sail membrane…
The production of energetic (multi-GeV) heavy ion beams by acceleration of ultra-thin foils through the application of radiation pressure to a self-generated, imperfect plasma mirror (photon absorption probability {\eta} finite) is studied.…
The electric solar wind sail (E-sail) is a novel, efficient propellantless propulsion concept which utilises the natural solar wind for spacecraft propulsion with the help of long centrifugally stretched charged tethers. The E-sail requires…
We present initial results of an ongoing engineering study on the feasibility of a space mission to the focal region of the solar gravitational lens (SGL). The mission goal is to conduct exoplanet imaging operations at heliocentric…
Electron transport in graphene under a laser-modulated barrier is studied in the presence of an energy gap, a scalar potential, and a uniaxial zigzag strain. The transfer-matrix approach is used with the boundary conditions to derive the…
The employment of a large area Phase Fresnel Lens (PFL) in a gamma-ray telescope offers the potential to image astrophysical phenomena with micro-arcsecond angular resolution. In order to assess the feasibility of this concept, two detailed…
Laser sails propelled by gigawatt-scale ground-based laser arrays have the potential to reach relativistic speeds, traversing the solar system in hours and reaching nearby stars in years. Here, we describe the danger interplanetary dust…
Heat transfer between graphene and water is pivotal for various applications, including solarthermal vapor generation and the advanced manufacturing of graphene-based hierarchical structures in solution. In this study, we employ a…
The dynamics of radiation pressure acceleration in the relativistic light sail regime are analysed by means of large scale, three-dimensional (3D) particle-in-cell simulations. Differently to other mechanisms, the 3D dynamics leads to…
Graphene has emerged as a promising material for integration into silicon photonics, owing to its ultrafast and broadband photoresponse without the need for an external bias voltage. This photoresponse relies on the photo-thermoelectric…
The fission thrust sail as booster for nuclear fusion-based rocket propulsion for future starships is studied. Some required aspects of these systems such as neutron moderation and sail regeneration are discussed. First order calculations…
We present a trajectory-resolved framework for charge transport in graphene and related two-dimensional carbon systems beyond the ideal ballistic and fully coherent limits. Transport is described by kinetic Monte Carlo hopping on a…
The Breakthrough Starshot Initiative is suggested to develop the concept of propelling a nano-scale spacecraft by the radiation pressure of an intense laser beam. If such a nanocraft could be accelerated to 20 percent of light speed, it…