Space exploration needs new nanoengineering concepts

Prof. Harish Bhaskaran

University of Oxford

The use of novel materials to revolutionize computing technology is well documented - indeed the field of functional materials truly dawned only with the introduction of doped semiconductors that could be programmed at will. As computing has become much more sophisticated and more adaptable to the way that life on earth processes information (so called AI and Machine Learning), new hardware to carry these ever growing tasks are urgently required. In this talk I shall cover some of the work we have done over the years in photonic computing. I shall also cover an equally important area which is advanced "on-demand" nanomanufacturing - there is no way you can send up a billion dollar nanofab into space, so we need advanced ways of thinking about making things in space, especially at the nanoscale, and I shall give a brief overview of what we are trying to do in this area.