Luminescent Solar Concentrators

Jon Mapel received a BS in Electrical Engineering from the University of Southern California and a PhD from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 2008 under the supervision of Marc Baldo in the Soft Semiconductor Group of the Research Laboratory of Electronics. His thesis was on novel approaches to separate optical and electrical functions by utilizing long range energy transfer mediated by surface plasmon polaritons in organic solar cells and waveguided photons in organic solar concentrators.

The Media Lab is a place where the future is lived, not imagined. Our domain is applying unorthodox research approaches for envisioning the impact of emerging technologies on everyday life—technologies that promise to fundamentally transform our most basic notions of human capabilities. Unconstrained by traditional disciplines, Lab designers, engineers, artists, and scientists work atelier-style in close to 30 re search groups conducting more than 300 projects that range from neuroengineering, to how children learn, to a stackable, electric car for tomorrow's city. Lab researchers foster a unique culture of learning by doing, developing technologies that empower people of all ages, from all walks of life, in all societies, to design and invent new pos sibilities for themselves and their communities.