Embedded Files
Education:
Post-Doctoral Research Fellow – Physics – Harvard University
Post-Doctoral Research Fellow – Physics – University of Pennsylvania
Ph.D. in Physics, University of California, Los Angeles
M.S. in Physics, University of California, Los Angeles
B.S in Physics, University of California, Los Angeles
Over 40 years of experience in program/product management, product development, basic research, and process development. I've specialized in startups, having been involved with several, three of which had successful exits during my times with them (1 IPO, 2 acquisitions).
My BC research takes advantage of BC's commitment to Integrated Sciences and encompasses Nanotechnology, Molecular Biology, Neuroscience, & Organismic Biology, as well as traditional Physics. We do a mixture of computer simulation, theory, and experimental work. My graduate teaching involves mentoring graduate students in pursuit of their PhD's. My undergraduate teaching involves teaching courses as well as course & curriculum development.
Department of Physics, affiliated with Prof. Naughton's Lab
Lab Phone: (617) 552-3595
Fax Number: (617) 552-8478
BC Electronic Mail Address: michael.burns.3@bc.edu (Yes, this email still works.)
Mailing Address:
Boston College Physics Department
Michael Burns, Higgins Hall, Rm 330M
140 Commonwealth Avenue
Chestnut Hill, MA 02467
~150nm diameter conical a-Si solar cell nanopillar Unit Cell in cross section:
Animation of 3-D Electromagnetic simulation of 600THz (λ=500nm) plane wave impinging on an infinite array of solar cell nanopillars. Illustration is of one Unit Cell with 3-d Periodic Boundary Conditions:
Energy absorption map showing all of the energy going into the ultra-thin a-Si PV layer:
For full publication list of the last 40+ years, click here.
click on the button to download a specific paper
Patents and software copyright list
Experimental
Experimental
Physics and chemistry of reduced dimensionality electronic systems, including nanostructures.
Thin-film process development of metal, dielectric and optical films..
Development of nanotechnology based biological, chemical & optical sensors applied to energy production, biology, molecular biology & neuroscience.
Development of solar cells.
Development of SQUID sensors, which are quantum noise limited magnetic field sensors, the most sensitive magnetic field sensors possible.
Physics of materials & systems at ultra-low temperatures and high magnetic fields.
Simulation
Simulation
3D electromagnetic modeling of nanostructures and nanoantennas using Finite Integral Technique (FIT), finite-difference time-domain (FDTD), as well as Frequency Domain (FD) methods. These numerical simulation techniques are applied primarily to nanocoax biological and chemical sensors.
Finite Element Analysis simulations of thermo-mechanical properties of nanostructures.
Typical software tools are CST Studio Suite, COMSOL MultiPhysics, & MEEP (running on a Virtual Machine) as well as Visual C++, Visual Basic, Matlab, Power Basic (+ Assembler) & Amazon Elastic Compute Cloud (EC2).
Theory
Theory
Theory of reduced dimensionality material systems.
Plasmonics.
Optics
Other Duties
Other Duties
Sit on student's PhD committees.
Supervise graduate students in their research.
Teach courses as a Research Professor.
Write grant proposals as Principle Investigator or co-Principle Investigator.
Sit on departmental committees.
Supervised x-ray diffractometers, scanning electron microscopes (SEMs including e-beam lithography) & focused ion beam (FIBs) in or affiliated with the BC Cleanroom.
Courses Taught
Boston College as Adjunct Professor (2010-2018):
PH409 – Contemporary Electronics
PH424 – Physics of Nanomaterials (substitute)
PHYS351001 – Contemporary Electronics
PHYS435001 – Experiments in Physics I (substitute)
University of Florida as Assistant Professor (1987-1992):
PHY 4802L – Laboratory Electronics
PHY 4803L – Advanced Physics Lab
PHY 4221 - Classical Mechanics
PHY 6556 - Low Temperature Physics (team taught)
Awards:
1999 - NASA Certificate of Recognition for Technical Innovation for Superconducting Tunnel Junction Photodetector arrays
1997 - JPL Technical Excellence Team Award for the development of 2.5THz Superconducting Hot Electron Bolometric Mixers
1996 - NASA Certificate of Recognition for Technical Innovation for the co-integration of CMOS & High Temperature Superconducting devices on the same chip. (Associated NASA Tech Brief here.)
1993 - R&D 100 Award , Mr. SQUID™ Project Leader @Conductus (Here for alternative link.)
1978 - Hughes Aircraft Company Master’s Fellowship
Affiliations:
Life Member, American Physical Society (APS)
Member, American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS)
Member, Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE)
Member, Materials Research Society (MRS)
Member, American Society for Quality (ASQ)
Member, The Optical Society (OSA)
Member, Society of Photo-Optical Instrumentation Engineers (SPIE)
Page updated
Report abuse