Dr. G. E. Jellison will discuss the physics of solar cells as part of the Physics Department’s seminar series.

Solar energy is much in the news these days as a way of cleanly solving the energy needs of the world. There is sufficient energy reaching the earth from the sun to power the planet. If we could harvest just 0.1% of the light energy incident upon the earth, we could meet all of humanity’s current energy needs. Solar cells are expensive now, but their cost is decreasing and their efficiencies are increasing with time.

G. E. (Jay) Jellison is a senior scientist at Oak Ridge National Laboratory. He earned a B.A. from Bowdoin College and a Ph.D. from Brown University, and was formerly a National Research Council fellow at the Naval Research Laboratory (Washington, DC). His work at Oak Ridge led to the fabrication of a laser annealed solar cell, which attained 19.5% efficiency in 1986. Jellison has published more than 200 articles in professional journals and conference proceedings, and nine book chapters. He holds two patents and two R&D100 awards.