Daniel Merthe Email & Phone Number

Seattle, Wa, Us

Seattle, Wa, Us

Seattle, Washington, United States

• Developing experimental methods to measure fusion rate and plasma density in the 300 kV Orbitron prototype.• Continuously increasing fuel ion density in the Orbitron by optimizing the ion injection process and implementing novel confinement techniques to achieve unprecedented energy confinement times.• Providing consultation for test infrastructure development, experiment planning and energy conversion concepts.

Greater Seattle Area

• Led cutting edge research projects that bridged physics, chemistry and materials science.• Built and tested experimental thermionic energy conversion devices.• Developed test platforms for power producing thermionic converters, including vacuum package design, development of in situ thermal and electrical diagnostics and integration with test stand hardware, electronics and instrumentation.• Developed software for interfacing with instrumentation and automating experiments.•… Show more • Led cutting edge research projects that bridged physics, chemistry and materials science.• Built and tested experimental thermionic energy conversion devices.• Developed test platforms for power producing thermionic converters, including vacuum package design, development of in situ thermal and electrical diagnostics and integration with test stand hardware, electronics and instrumentation.• Developed software for interfacing with instrumentation and automating experiments.• Fabricated, via machining and welding (TIG/laser), UHV components and hardware.• Spearheaded efforts to develop nano-engineered surfaces for selective particle absorption.• Coordinated with nanofabrication engineers and computational team for effective planning of experiments for advanced anode architectures.• Built and operated UHV experimental setups for characterization of cathode candidate materials and nanofabricated semiconductor anode structures.• Built and demonstrated prototype converters for board reviews.Hired as R&D Scientist; Promoted in August 2021 to Senior R&D Scientist. Show less

Los Angeles Metropolitan Area

• Studied the physical properties and electrodynamic interactions of low temperature molecular systems suspended in helium nano-droplets.• Built and maintained UHV hardware and instrumentation for molecular beam experiments.• Leveraged the college machine shop to design and fabricate many of the components in the experimental apparatus.

Los Angeles Metropolitan Area

• Taught undergraduate physics lab courses.• Graded homework and exams of undergraduate physics students.• Worked in the Lecture Demonstration Lab to provide the Physics Department with illustrative and illuminating physics demonstrations for undergraduate students.

Berkeley, California

• Developed at-wavelength metrology methods for precise alignment and tuning of bendable x-ray optics in 2D imaging systems. • Researched optimal measurement techniques for metrology to reduce time and increase precision of measurements, in preparation for a future upgrade to the ALS Second Generation Long Trace Profiler II.

Berkeley, California

• Developed at-wavelength metrology methods, including shearing interferometry and advanced knife-edge scanning techniques, for precise alignment and tuning of bendable x-ray optics; demonstration of diffraction limited focusing.• Participated in R&D work at the Optical Metrology Laboratory to improve the sub-microradian precision Long Trace Profiler (LTP); tested optical components and verified for suitability for using in high performance optical metrology instrumentation; developed of an… Show more • Developed at-wavelength metrology methods, including shearing interferometry and advanced knife-edge scanning techniques, for precise alignment and tuning of bendable x-ray optics; demonstration of diffraction limited focusing.• Participated in R&D work at the Optical Metrology Laboratory to improve the sub-microradian precision Long Trace Profiler (LTP); tested optical components and verified for suitability for using in high performance optical metrology instrumentation; developed of an original multi-beam LTP optical sensor in collaboration with the optical group at NASA Marshall Flight Center; assembled and tested a new optical sensor for the ALS LTP-II.• Conducted optical metrological characterization of the ALS beamline optics with the LTP. Show less

Livermore, Ca

• Helped to develop kinetic models of hydrocarbon (ethyl, i/n – propyl, isobutyl, ethanol, DMF) oxidation; established the first experimentally verified fully parameterized propyl + O2 combustion model, based on ab initio calculated micro-canonical rate constants and density functional theory.• Performed Laser Spectroscopy (direct absorption and frequency modulation) of low pressure alkyl + O2 reactions in order to observe the time evolution of hydrocarbon oxidation for validation of… Show more • Helped to develop kinetic models of hydrocarbon (ethyl, i/n – propyl, isobutyl, ethanol, DMF) oxidation; established the first experimentally verified fully parameterized propyl + O2 combustion model, based on ab initio calculated micro-canonical rate constants and density functional theory.• Performed Laser Spectroscopy (direct absorption and frequency modulation) of low pressure alkyl + O2 reactions in order to observe the time evolution of hydrocarbon oxidation for validation of oxidation models; operated CW diode, dye, and high intensity pulsed YAG lasers with harmonic generation. Show less

San Francisco, Ca

• Guided students in astronomy laboratory exercises.• Graded the work of students.

San Francisco, Ca

• Built an effective apparatus for saturation spectroscopy of atomic rubidium. • Observed hyperfine structure energy levels in atomic rubidium, measured relevant parameters and compared to literature to validate accuracy of the method.• Wrote an experimental exercise manual for future upper division students at USF, who may wish to repeat the experiment.

Livermore, Ca

• Developed kinetic models of hydrocarbon oxidation, validated against experimental observations, with unprecedented success. • Performed laser spectroscopy (direct absorption and frequency modulation) of low pressure alkyl + O2 reactions.

Doctor Of Philosophy (Phd), Physics

Working in the Kresin Nanocluster Physics Group, I studied the fundamental physical interactions of molecules suspended in cold (370 mK).

Bachelor Of Science, Physics, Chemistry

Activities and Societies: Honors Physics Program As an undergraduate, I conducted research in the laboratory of Professor Thomas Böttger..