Facilities

Located at the Energy Innovation Center, Room 135

• PI: Paul Ohodnicki, PhD
• PI: Khurram Naeem
  

The Acoustic Sensing Lab focuses on the development and application of advanced acoustic and ultrasonic sensing technologies for Structural Health Monitoring (SHM), and nondestructive evaluation. The lab specializes in fiber-optic and photonic sensor systems, innovative sensor designs, and integrating advanced signal processing techniques including Machine Learning framework to detect, characterize and classify acoustic waves across a wide frequency range. Key research areas include guided wave inspection, distributed acoustic sensing (DAS), and high-sensitivity ultrasonic detection using optical sensors. Besides, the lab also focus on developing custom optical sensing systems for high-resolution strain and temperature measurement, namely Rayleigh OFDR and Raman distributed temperature sensor (DTS). The lab aims to create robust, high-resolution, and field-deployable solutions for applications in energy infrastructure including oil-and-gas pipelines, and marine sectors. 

Located at the Energy Innovation Center, Room #139C

• PI: Paul Ohodnicki, PhD
• Faculty/Researcher: Tulika Khanikar
• Faculty/Researcher: Yang Duan Su

The temperature and gas sensing setup is dedicated to fiber optic sensor experiments. It is equipped with various gases including CO2 (both % and ppm level), H2, CH4, N2, Synthetic air. The tube furnace has a temperature control range of 200C-1200C. 

Located at the Energy Innovation Center

• PI: Paul Ohodnicki, PhD
• Faculty/Researcher: Jun Young Hong
• Faculty/Researcher: Dolendra Karki

The Laser Heated Pedestal Growth (LHPG) facility at the University of Pittsburgh enables the fabrication of high-quality single-crystal fibers using a simplified, low-cost optical setup. The system features real-time diameter monitoring, a PID-controlled loop for laser power stability, and the capability to grow fibers from both single-crystalline and polycrystalline source rods. This in-house platform supports research into SCF-based sensing, photonics, and high-temperature applications. 

Main Components:

• CO₂ laser (Firestar 30 OEM, Synrad, λ=10.6 μm) with 30W max. power
• He-Ne red laser for thealignment - Beam expander
• Off-axis parabolic mirror
• ZnSe beam combiner
• Top and Bottom motor

Located in Benedum Hall, Room 724

• PI: Piervincenzo Rizzo, Ph.D 

Laboratory for Nondestructive Evaluation and Structural Health monitoring studies was established by Dr. Rizzo in 2006 upon his arrival at the University of Pittsburgh. In September 2012 the laboratory was re-located in a totally renovated floor. The laboratory consists of about 900 square feet of dust-free space, which contains the state-of-the-art equipment of some of the most widely used Nondestructive Evaluation (NDE) and structural health monitoring(SHM) methods. The laboratory is equipped to conduct research and development in Acoustic Emission, Ultrasonic Testing, Modal Analysis, Infrared Thermography, Optical testing, Electrotechnical Impedance, and Acoustics.  

Located in Benedum Hall

• PI: Nikhil Bajaj

The Intelligent Nonlinear Systems Lab is a lab space in Benedum Hall at the University of Pittsburgh, that has capabilities needed for prototyping and testing sensing systems. The lab is equipped with electronic test equipment (oscilloscopes, power supplies, function generators, spectrum analyzers, lock-in amplifiers) as well as equipment capable of bespoke signal processing and control through state-of-the-art microcontrollers, FPGAs, and DSP systems. Some fabrication equipment (3D printers, small milling machines, PCB printing machine, soldering tools) is also available. The lab houses a Whisper Room sound isolation booth for sensitive acoustic measurements, as well as multiple vibration isolation tables, which house two laser Doppler vibrometer systems, capable of sub-nm vibration measurement at frequencies up to 24 MHz. For MEMS devices, one of the vibrometers can scan at the microscopic level, visualizing deformation modes of MEMS devices both out-of-plane and in-plane - these devices can be analyzed under vacuum or certain gas exposures in our probe station.