Award Data

The nanoparticle field extraction thruster (nanoFET) is being developed as an efficient, variable specific impulse electric propulsion device. NanoFET provides thrust by extracting nanometer- to micron-sized particles from a liquid reservoir, and accelerating them electrostatically. With its high efficiency and large thrust-to-power ratio over an unprecedented specific impulse range (100 to 10,000 ...

We propose to demonstrate the feasibility of an compact optically driven high power time-domain terahertz (TD-THz) source with greater than 1 milliwatt average output at a repetition rate of approximately 50 MHz. This source will be compatible with conventional time domain terahertz spectroscopy and imaging equipment, but extend the output power greater than a 1000 times the 1 microwatt typically ...

Ultra-dense integrated circuits with sub-10-nm features would provide enormous benefits for all information technologies, including computing, networking, and signal processing. However, it is widely accepted that a radical paradigm shift from purely CMOS technology to hybrid CMOS/nanodevice circuits is essential to achieve such level of miniaturization. We propose to work on a particular circuit ...

Virtual EM, in collaboration with the Michigan Nanotechnology Institute for Medicine and Biological Sciences (MNIMBS) of the University of Michigan, proposes to develop the first stage in a BWA sensor, an electronic switch that indicates the presence of a biological warfare agent (BWA). This work will use previously designed aptamers that bind specifically to the BWA. The switch will activate in t ...

Low-power Hall thrusters offer potentially important advantages for certain military applications but issues of lifetime and efficiency degradation at lower powers are issues hindering its utilization. A factor impacting efficiency is that thestate-of-the-art techniques for electron generation used for neutralization (such as hollow cathodes operating on the same propellant as the thruster) do no ...

Rapid growth in the performance and capabilities of thermography, and the increased use of composite materials in the construction and repair of military and commercial aircraft, has strongly positioned it as a viable NDI technique. In Phase I, ThermalWave Imaging, Inc. and UD-CCM propose to develop an AC coupled, non-contact Non-Destructive Evaluation (NDE) technique that can evaluate 3-D state o ...