Award Data

Alameda Applied Sciences Corporation (AASC) proposes to replace the anode posts of a soft x-ray z-pinch with an azimuthally symmetric shell of high density, low atomic number gas. Once ionized, the gas column carries the current and eliminates particulate debris that is otherwise generated by the return rods. The gas shell also absorbs unwanted UV and hence eliminates the first Li foil filter of t ...

Alameda Applied Sciences Corp proposes to develop a fast pulse, portable, fast neutron source to detect SNM in the field. Our source offers a 20ns neutron pulse with a repetition rate up to 1kHz. The goal is to develop a source with 1000hrs of continuous operation at 1E8 n/s. The Ph I program will demonstrate the critical features of the source including pulse width, reproducibility and neutron yi ...

DTRA requires reliable X-ray sources to irradiate test objects for customers. One key component of test object irradiation is reliable radiation diagnostics to measure the dose and dose-rate to test objects. Current radiation diagnostics possess unacceptable levels of variation. Alameda Applied Sciences Corp proposes the use of a dense plasma focus device as a flat field X-ray calibration sourc ...

Presently, commercial and government radiation test facilities do not have convenient, reliable calibration systems for routine, day-in, day-out checks on x-ray and neutron detectors or their filter arrays. Lack of such calibration systems compromises the quality of the testing, and leads to wasted time and manpower resources used to resolve the ensuing uncertainties. We are developing a compact, ...

AASC’s objective is to mitigate the risk of implementing an active interrogation system based upon time of flight measurements. A fast pulse neutron source is a critical component of a time of flight system even at large stand off. This program directly addresses means to control the probe radiation pulse in a fast neutron source. In some concept of operations, pulse width is a larger concern ...

A pulsed neutron generator is proposed for the detection of special nuclear material. A recently developed RF-excited plasma neutron generator will be pulsed to produce the activating neutrons whose pulse length is 100 microseconds with a fall time of less than 1 microsecond. High pulse repetition rates and high peak neutron yields can be otained depending upon the RF generator used. Using the T-T ...

We propose to demonstrate near infrared (NIR) InGaAs sensor arrays with 55% lower noise than arrays presently available to improve the sensitivity of current spectroscopy systems. The low noise performance will be enabled by the use of low-noise source follower per detector ROICs, which are also used in astronomy with HgCdTe for low noise measurements. With design improvements to current available ...

We propose to demonstrate near infrared (NIR) sensor arrays with 10 times lower noise than arrays presently available to improve the sensitivity of current spectroscopy systems. Such an achievement would allow the measurement of new phenomena through Raman spectroscopy and other diagnostic techniques. The low noise performance is enabled by the use of low-noise Si readout integrated circuits mated ...

Special operation forces utilize C-130 aircraft that often operate in night/adverse weather, low-level, deep-penetration missions in contested or hostile environments. These low altitude missions result in higher risks to the crew and aircraft. AeroVironment proposes to leverage their current packaged and air-launched unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) developments to design a self-contained, packaged ...

Detection systems for aeropathogens require the concentration of airborne particles from large volumes of air into small volumes of liquid. This proposal addresses this need through droplet encapsulation of airborne particles, with subsequent capture into a microliter-sized collection reservoir. Droplet encapsulation is accomplished through our company¿s proven, patented growth tube technology. T ...