Award Data

Diode-Pumped Alkali Lasers (DPALs) have great potential for high-energy lasers. Proper design of these systems is challenging because many interrelated processes impact their performance, and critical kinetic rate coefficients are not well known. In response, our team is developing a comprehensive physics-based analysis/design tool, and experimentally determining key kinetic rate coefficients. The ...

Superconducting radio-frequency receivers, optical absorption energy sensors, and quantum computers have the potential to revolutionize digital communications for manned aircraft, unmanned aerial vehicles, (UAVs) and satellites. Development of low size, weight, power, and cost (SWaP-C) cryocooler technology is essential since these communication systems must operate at cryogenic temperatures. Turb ...

The heat exchanger in the Nacelle of the V-22 Osprey cools gearbox oils and hydraulic oil. In operation, the current heat exchanger becomes clogged with sand and dust and the engine overheats. Also, the current unit is very difficult to clean. A micro tube heat exchanger with large air passages offers the potential to alleviate this problem. In this program, Mezzo will design and manufacture, and ...

Navy aircraft components require constant repair due to damage from field operations. In most cases, the damage is due to maintenance occurrences or service, due to Foreign Object Debris (FOD). Although the damage appears to be minor, the components need to be sent back to a Navy depot for disposition and repair, which is usually comprised of blending away the damage and substantially reducing the ...

Blast induced Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI) is a major threat to the health of military personnel serving in modern theaters. As such, the biomechanical injury pathways of TBI are, and have been, the focus of many animal studies. However, differences in the experimental setups across laboratories make it difficult to draw definitive conclusions from the resulting data. A tool that can accurately es ...

Aircraft carrier control systems rely upon many sensors and signal processors to ensure safe and efficient aircraft launch and recovery. As one example subsystem, Digital End Speed Indicators (DESI) use reluctance sensors mounted within the catapult trough to determine aircraft end speed during launch. The DESI was developed in the 1980s, and recent reliability problems have highlighted the need f ...

Low cost polyurethane laminate tent materials are designed to solve the cold crack issue with PVC tent fabrics. The use of novel construction of urethane/textile laminates offers a breakthrough in environmental durability over current offerings. This new high durability laminate configuration provides for a new class of economical lightweight shelters with extended operating capability. Using a co ...

In phase II work, we will collaborate with Prof. Dennis W. Prather in UD and continue to develop broadband, low VÏ€, high linearity, thin-film lithium niobate on insulator (LNOI) modulators that are fully compatible with silicon photonic integrated circuits (PIC) foundry processes. We will demonstrate a low VÏ€, broadband, small footprint LNOI modulator with hybrid Si/LN or SiN/LN waveguide ...

In phase II work, we will collaborate with Prof. Stefan Preble in RIT and continue to develop large scale hybrid integration and packaging techniques for key active photonic components such as lithium niobate on insulator (LNOI) modulators and modified uni-traveling (MUTC) photodiodes. We will demonstrate a low V, broadband, small footprint LNOI modulator with hybrid Si/LN or SiN/LN waveguide usin ...

Despite over 100 years of research, decompression sickness (DCS) remains the mission-limiting factor in the design and execution of combat diving operations.Divers may spend over an hour decompressing after spending as little as ten minutes at the target depth.While decompressing, divers are limited in vertical mobility, making then susceptible to detection and threatening their survivability.This ...