A method for producing alane is provided. The method comprises forming a solution comprising an alane adduct and a Lewis acid. The alane adduct comprises alane and a coordinating ligand. The method further comprises exposing the solution to a laser or high-power light at a at least one wavelength selected to cause dissociation of a bond between the alane and the coordinating ligand, resulting in crystallization of the alane and binding of the coordinating ligand to the Lewis acid after dissociation and separating the crystallized alane from the coordinating ligand and Lewis acid.

Photon generating substrates for light-directed oligonucleotide synthesis are disclosed. Light is generated within a solid-state stack that supports growing oligonucleotides. The light may be generated by microLEDs, a pass-through liquid crystal panel, or an LCoS system. Light passes through a transmissive layer on which growing oligonucleotides are attached. Patterning of the light is controlled by selective activation of the microLEDs or by selective control of the transparency of a liquid crystal layer. Photolabile blocking groups are selectively removed by exposure to patterned light emitted from the photon generating substrate.

The invention includes apparatus and methods for instantiating chemical reactants, including elemental metals such as calcium in a nanoporous carbon powder, and forming products therefrom, such as calcium oxide and calcium hydroxide.

Disclosed are single atom dispersions and multi-atom dispersions, and systems and methods for synthesizing the atomic dispersions. An exemplary method of synthesizing atomic dispersions includes: positioning a loaded substrate which includes a substrate which is loaded with at least one of: a precursor of an element or a cluster of an element, applying one or more temperature pulses to the loaded substrate where a pulse of the temperature pulse(s) applies a target temperature for a duration, maintaining a cooling period after the pulse, and providing single atoms of the element dispersed on the substrate after the one or more temperature pulses. The target temperature applied by the pulse is between 500 K and 4000 K, inclusive, and the duration is between 1 millisecond and 1 minute, inclusive.

In the synthesis of boron nitride nanotubes (BNNTs) via high temperature, high pressure methods, a boron feedstock may be elevated above its melting point in a nitrogen environment at an elevated pressure. Methods and apparatus for supporting the boron feedstock and subsequent boron melt are described that enhance BNNT synthesis. A target holder having a boron nitride interface layer thermally insulates the target holder from the boron melt. Using one or more lasers as a heat source, mirrors may be positioned to reflect and control the distribution of heat in the chamber. The flow of nitrogen gas in the chamber may be heated and controlled through heating elements and flow control baffles to enhance BNNT formation. Cooling systems and baffle elements may provide additional control of the BNNT production process.

The present invention provides a target substance transfer method, a crystal production method, a composition production method, and a target substance transfer device, which allow the concentration of a target substance to be increased easily and effectively. The target substance transfer method is a method for transferring a target substance 103 from a first phase 101 that is a liquid or solid phase containing the target substance 103 to a second phase 102 including: a phase approximation step of bringing the first phase 101 and the second phase 102 into close proximity; and a bubble collapse step of forming bubbles in the vicinity of a boundary between the first phase 101 and the second phase 102 and then causing the bubbles to collapse.

The invention relates to a chemical conversion process and to a process for removing particles from a reaction mixture. The chemical conversion process of the invention includes plasmonic heating of a reaction mixture having at least a one component and plasmonic particles, by exposing the reaction mixture to light having one or more wavelengths which are absorbed by at least part of the plasmonic particles, thereby controlling the reaction rate of one or more chemical reactions.

Laser diode drivers include switching power supplies situated proximate one or more laser diode arrays so as to provide laser diode drive currents at frequencies of 200 kHz or more. The switching power supplies are generally buck/boost supplies that can provide well regulated outputs even when regulating remote power received from a power supply via a cables having inductances in the hundreds of nH. Multiple laser diode arrays can be driven with independently selectable powers. A drive current for a particular laser array can be controlled so as to reduce voltage drop at voltage control elements such as FETs, leading to increased efficiency, increased product life and decreased sense element failure.

Thin film batteries (TFB) are fabricated by a process which eliminates and/or minimizes the use of shadow masks. A selective laser ablation process, where the laser patterning process removes a layer or stack of layers while leaving layer(s) below intact, is used to meet certain or all of the patterning requirements. For die patterning from the substrate side, where the laser beam passes through the substrate before reaching the deposited layers, a die patterning assistance layer, such as an amorphous silicon layer or a microcrystalline silicon layer, may be used to achieve thermal stress mismatch induced laser ablation, which greatly reduces the laser energy required to remove material.

Methods for recycling carbon fibers are disclosed. The methods can include providing at least one object comprising carbon fibers and resin, and contacting the object with at least one light beam to produce recycled carbon fibers. Systems that implement the disclosed methods are also provided.