B.S. 1961 (University of California at Los Angeles); M.S. 1962, Ph.D. 1965 (California Institute of Technology

Chemical Physics and Combustion Diagnostics Website at Cornell 

Cool joined the Cornell faculty after completing his graduate work in plasma physics.  His work on flowing gas lasers led to the first purely chemical laser, and he has continued research on the application of laser spectroscopy to problems in chemical physics ranging from studies of hyperfine quantum beats in laser excited molecular fluorescence to the use of nonlinear optical methods for combustion diagnostics.  He is currently engaged in collaborative research with investigators at the Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory and the Sandia Combustion Research Facility in the use of tunable vacuum ultraviolet (VUV) photoionization mass spectrometry for the detection of reaction intermediates in combustion.  He is a fellow of the American Physical Society and the Optical Society of America and a member of the American Chemical Society and the Combustion Institute.

Research Interests

Studies of the flame chemistry of oxygenated fuels or fuel additives (dimethyl ether, ethanol, alkyl esters), proposed as clean burning alternatives to conventional liquid hydrocarbon fuels derived from petroleum, are principal themes of our current research.  Kinetic model development for these reaction systems requires direct measurements of the absolute concentrations of combustion intermediates in laboratory flames chosen to reveal underlying reaction mechanisms.  Photoionization mass spectrometry (PIMS) using monochromated synchrotron radiation, applied to the selective detection of reaction intermediates in low-pressure premixed flat flames, is uniquely suited for the development and testing of kinetic models of combustion chemistry.  Cool and co-workers have developed a flame-sampling PIMS instrument, located at the Advanced Light Source of the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory that is leading to major advances in the detection of reaction intermediates in laboratory flames and the measurement of their concentrations.  These advances yield improved kinetic models for the combustion of the major classes of modern fuels and fuel blends, including biofuels. 

Current Research Projects

Studies of the Chemistry of Oxygenated Fuels with Photoionization Mass Spectrometry (U.S. Department of Energy)

Selected Publications 

• J. Wang, M. Chaos, B. Yang, T. A. Cool, F. L. Dryer, N. Hansen, P. Oßwald, K. Kohse-Höinghaus, P. R. Westmoreland, “Composition of reaction intermediates for stoichiometric and fuel-rich dimethyl ether flames: Flame-sampling mass spectrometry and modeling studies”, Physical Chemistry Chemical Physics, 2009, 11, 1328-1339, DOI: 10.1039/B815988B.  
• N. Hansen, T.A. Cool, P.R. Westmoreland, K. Kohse-Höinghaus,“Recent Contributions of Flame-Sampling Molecular-Beam Mass Spectrometry to a Fundamental Understanding of Combustion Chemistry”, Progress in Energy and Combustion Science, 2009, 35, 168-191.
• J. Wang, U. Struckmeier, B. Yang, T. A. Cool, P. Oßwald, K. Kohse-Höinghaus, T. Kasper, N. Hansen, P.R. Westmoreland, “Isomer-specific influences on the composition of reaction intermediates in dimethyl ether/propene and ethanol/propene flames”, J. Phys. Chem. A, 2008, 112, 9255-9265.
• C. K. Westbrook, W. J. Pitz, P. R. Westmoreland, F. L. Dryer, M. Chaos, P. Oßwald, K. Kohse-Höinghaus, T. A. Cool, J. Wang, B. Yang, N. Hansen, T. Kasper, “A Detailed Chemical Kinetic Mechanism for Oxidation of Four Small Alkyl Esters in Laminar Premixed Flames”, Proc. Combust. Inst., 2009, 32, 221-228.
• A Lucassen, P. Oßwald, U. Struckmeier, K. Kohse-Höinghaus, T. Kasper, N. Hansen, T.A Cool, P. R.Westmoreland, “Species identification in a laminar premixed low-pressure flame of morpholine as a model substance for oxygenated nitrogen-containing fuels”, Proc. Combust. Inst., 2009, 32, 1269-1276.
• N. Hansen, J. A. Miller, T. Kasper, K. Kohse-Höinghaus, P. R. Westmoreland, J. Wang, T. A. Cool, “Benzene Formation in Premixed Fuel-Rich 1,3-Butadiene Flames“, Proc. Combust. Inst., 2009, 32, 623-630.
• C. A. Taatjes, N. Hansen, D. L. Osborn,  K. Kohse-Höinghaus, T. A. Cool,  P. R. Westmoreland, ““Imaging“ Combustion Chemistry via Multiplexed Synchrotron-Photoionization Mass Spectrometry”, Phys. Chem. Chem. Phys., 2008, 10(1), 20-34.
• J. Wang, B. Yang, T. A. Cool, N. Hansen and T. Kasper, “Near-threshold Absolute Photoionization Cross Sections of some Reaction Intermediates in Combustion”, Int. J. Mass Spectrom., 2008, 269(3), 210-220.
• N. Hansen, S. J. Klippenstein, P. R. Westmoreland, T. Kasper, K. Kohse-Höinghaus, J. Wang and T. A. Cool, “A Combined ab initio and Photoionization Mass Spectrometric Study of Polyynes in Fuel-Rich Flames”, Phys. Chem. Chem. Phys., 2008, 10(3), 366-374.
• N. Hansen, T. Kasper, S. J. Klippenstein, P. A. Westmoreland, M. E. Law, C. A. Taatjes, K. Kohse-Höinghaus, J. Wang, T. A. Cool, “Initial steps of aromatic ring formation in a laminar premixed fuel-rich cyclopentene flame”, J. Phys. Chem. A, 2007, 111(19), 4081-4092.