Aaron Applegate Email & Phone Number

Huntsville, AL, US

Huntsville, Alabama, United States

• Investigated ultra-short pulsed laser plasma interactions, diagnostics, and target effects as part of work supported by the US Army Space and Missile Defense Command (SMDC).
• Performed maintenance and setup of vacuum test facilities, including work on roughing pumps, diffusion pumps, along with assembly and leak checks of vacuum systems. Installed wiring, power supplies, optical systems.
• Designed, built, and calibrated a hanging pendulum thrust stand to measure micronewton impulses generated during laser ablation of targets. Created a python script to perform automated calibration and data acquisition.
• Built triple and single Langmuir probes to measure plasma density, temperature, and potential. Measured axial electric fields of laser ablation plasmas under influence of magnetic fields.
• Characterized the thrust and specific impulse produced by magnetically confined laser ablation as part of work to determine its potential as a fuel agnostic propulsion system.

Huntsville, Alabama, United States

• Performed computational modeling of RF dusty plasmas using molecular dynamic and continuum models to simulate system behavior across various geometries and boundary conditions in microgravity.
• Converted a Fortran molecular dynamics code to CUDA to utilize GPUs for high performance parallel computing.
• Examined the physics of Coulomb crystal formation of charged dust particles in microgravity environments. Achieved a significant performance speedup of 233x while extending the quantity of tracked particles by two.

Huntsville, Alabama, United States

• Instructed students in the experimental verification of material properties and structural deformations under different loads.
• Trained students in test procedures, proper use of instrumentation (strain gauge, extensometer, torsion test machine), and interpretation of experimental results in the context of theory.

San Diego, California, United States

• Applied theoretical models and experimental data to analyze the performance of the EUV (Extreme Ultraviolet) light source used for semiconductor lithography.
• Monitored key performance indicators of laser and Tin plasma interactions and debris generation within the experimental test rig. Investigated metrology error of various sensor used to determine optimal EUV generation.
• Implemented a dashboard for collecting and evaluating system performance and health over the span of different test campaigns.

Greater San Diego Area

• Assisted in the design of fuel injector components and their integration with the thrust chamber. Successfully reduced pressure drops of RP1-LOX propellant and improved engine performance.
• Performed CFD (Ansys) analysis of pressure and thermal properties of the injector design. Collaborated with propulsion team to ensure readiness for preliminary design review.

Doctor Of Philosophy - Phd, Aerospace Systems Engineering

Master Of Science - Ms, Aerospace Systems Engineering

Bachelor Of Science - Bs, Aerospace, Aeronautical And Astronautical/Space Engineering