Geoff Smith Ph.D.

Smith, Geoff
Position Department / Business Unit
Professor - Applied Physics Institute for Nanoscale Technology
Institution Disciplines
University of Technology Sydney Physics
City State / Provence
Sydney
Country Website
Australia link
Fax

Geoff Smith is Professor of Applied Physics, at the University of Technology, Sydney (UTS), Australia and leads one of two major research programs at its Institute of Nanotechnology, where he focuses on fundamental new optical physics of nanostructures, pigmented materials and thin films.

Over many years Dr. Smith has shown how nanostructures and microstuctures inside materials and films, and on surfaces, can achieve cost/performance goals; from optimising electrodeposited black chrome in 1979-80, to nanostructured metal and angular selective thin films in the 80's and 90's, to recently a new type of cheap flexible polymer light pipe with controlled leakage, which has already catalysed several unique lighting products, and now the unusual properties of certain types of nanoholes in metal.

Dr. Smith also is studying the interacting of nanomaterials and filters with solar radiation, materials development for a variety of applications, including solar absorbers, solar and glare control windows, roof glazing and skylights, outdoor display systems, luminaires, and daylight collection with luminescent concentrators and its delivery with attached flexible light piping systems.

Development and assessment with industrial partners of energy efficiency products is taking up an increasing amount of his time. The most recent is a low cost, clear solar control window which utilises a small amount of special nanoparticles and other additives in the PVB laminate layer to block near infra red and UV solar rays. It has been developed and exposure tested since 1998 when the project was launched at UTS, and is now available for architectural and soon vehicle use, the first products going to China in mid 2002.

Career Highlights

He has been based at UTS since 1973. His solar energy work started in 1974 after a PhD at Monash University and two years at the University of Sussex, UK. Professor Smith has spent periods as a visiting researcher in renewable energy projects at Chalmers University of Technology, and University of Uppsala Sweden, The University of Houston, Texas and Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory, California, USA. He was a project leader in IEA task 18 on advanced windows.. Corporations from Germany, USA, Japan and Australia are currently linked into his group's research programs on windows, lighting and nanotechnology. He carried out the daylighting design and polymer roofing studies for Australia stadium - as seen in the 2000 Olympics.

Books

Nanotechnology: Basic Science and Emerging Technologies,  Chapman and Hall/CRC Press

Important Articles

Optical properties and applications to production of plasmonic thin film nanostructures of self-ordered columnar alumina arrays on glass; Angus Gentle, Abbas Maaroof, Geoff Smith, and Michael Cortie; The International Society for Optical Engineering; (2006)

The generalized mean value function approach: a new stastistical tool for the detection of weak signals in spectroscopy; Raoul R Nigmatullin and Geoff Smith;  Journal of Physics: Applied Physics; (2005)