Award Data

The goal of this program is to develop the mixed elpasolite scintillators in order to achieve an energy resolution of  (≤ 2.5% (approaching 2%) at 662 keV for crystal sizes of up to 2 inch by 2 inch.  In this project we will investigate compositional changes in selected mixed-elpasolite(s) in order to achieve very high energy resolution.  By incorporating 6Li, neutron detection will also be t ...

The ability to discriminate between threatening and benign sources depends on the sensitivity, accuracy, and identification speed of the detection equipment. High energy resolution of the radionuclide sensor is necessary to decrease the likelihood of false identification. However, few scintillators achieve better than 3% energy resolution at 662 keV, and none exceed 2.5%. The goal of this effort i ...

There is significant interest in multi-functional materials enabling gamma-ray spectroscopy, neutron/gamma pulse shape discrimination (PSD), ultra-fast response, and time-of-flight (TOF) neutron detection. These materials would be used in a variety of mission scenarios for the localization and monitoring of special nuclear materials. Commercial inorganic scintillators offer some of these character ...

The introduction of substandard or counterfeit materials into the DoD supply chain can have extremely expensive, and potentially life threatening, consequences. Current techniques used to detect nonconforming materiel can be destructive (e.g., manual sectioning and inspection of a part), time consuming and expensive (e.g., micro-computed tomography, ultrasound), or provide only limited informatio ...

Military operators must identify and catalogue the equipment they find when inspecting laboratory facilities. This information is used to determine the lab’s capabilities, including the lab’s potential for building weapons of mass destruction. Currently, operators use computer vision algorithms to help them classify equipment in pictures of laboratory environments. Unfortunately, current image ...

While aluminum casing materials provide some enhanced performance and thermal loading to explosive ordinance, their overall effectiveness is highly limited by incomplete combustion and long residence times. In order to reduce these problems, the casing material must be designed to facilitate rapid fragmentation through either specialized casing geometries or greatly refined initial particle sizes. ...

Vibrant Corporation and Sandia National Laboratories (SNL) propose to apply Process Compensated Resonance Testing (PCRT) to the DLA's need for an NDI method to detect counterfeit, nonconforming and improperly processed materiel. PCRT collects and analyzes the resonance frequencies of a component to detect structural defects, characterize material, analyze population variation, monitor manufacturin ...

A compact laser driver will allow photoconductive semiconductor switches to be used in small EMP simulator "building blocks" (EMPBB). Combined with a battery powered on-board pulsed power system, these EMPBBs will allow the construction of flexible EMP test facilities with nothing more than a single fiber optic timing connection to each EMPBB.