Award Data

Realizing the promise of nuclear fusion depends in part on effective plasma facing components (PFCs) that can withstand the intense heat loads, forces, and neutron bombardment of long-pulse high-power reactor operation. A single reactor such as ITER will require thousands of PFCs. Because imperfections in the joints of just one PFC could have disastrous consequences for reactor operation, joint ...

Solid oxide fuel cells (SOFCs) are one of the most efficient and cleanest power generating systems being developed. A key component is the cathode air heat exchanger, or recuperator, which ensures that the cathode air, and thereby the cells, are at sufficient temperature to permit ion mobility ¿ and thereby improve overall SOFC system efficiency. At present, commercially available metallic recu ...

Methane is the second most important atmospheric greenhouse gas after CO2, yet its global sources and sinks are still inadequately characterized. Recent observations that industrial plants may account for a substantial fraction of atmospheric methane have lead to an increased emphasis on studies of ecosystem CH4 fluxes, with particular interest in using isotopic composition to identify specific p ...

Aerosol particles have important impacts on visibility, acid deposition, climate, and human health. A large fraction of the anthropogenic aerosol is generated from energy-related activities, and carbonaceous species are known to constitute a significant fraction of ambient aerosol mass in many locations. In particular, black carbon (BC), formed in combustion processes, is believed to have a stro ...

Aerosol particles affect the radiative balance of the earth directly, by scattering and absorbing solar and terrestrial radiation, and indirectly, by acting as cloud condensation nuclei. It is now recognized that atmospheric loading of aerosols, generated through human activities, can exert an influence on the earth¿s radiation budget comparable in magnitude with greenhouse gases. However, unce ...

Agiltron has developed a breakthrough modular IR imaging technology that employs a photomechanical effect, in which an array of micro-machined sensor pixels converts IR radiation into visible light signals that can be optically detected by commercial off-the-shelf CMOS or CCD visible-light imagers. With commercial CMOS imagers achieving multi-megapixel resolution, the resolution of the modular Agi ...

X-ray detector arrays with high energy resolution, high sensitivity, and high count rate are required for synchrotron beamline studies. In many studies conducted with synchrotron beamlines, the characteristics of available X-ray detectors limit overall system performance. This project will investigate a novel, low capacitance design for high purity silicon detector arrays, which offers high-ener ...

Large volume CdZnTe gamma ray detectors would improve radiation detection capabilities in support of the nonproliferation of nuclear weapons. However, scientific and commercial interest in large volume CdZnTe gamma-ray detectors has been obstructed by a lack of consistent, high-quality crystalline substrates. Intrinsic limitations of the material have been well studied, and by using a variety of ...

With the ever-increasing number of human disease models, particularly in smaller animals, high resolution emission/transmission tomography techniques have become extremely important. The main barriers to using existing modalities in studies of laboratory animals have traditionally been poor spatial resolution, low sensitivity, and high cost. Although detector technologies have improved significa ...

Scintillation detectors, consisting of inorganic scintillation crystals coupled to photomultipliers, are an important element of medical imaging applications, such as positron emission tomography (PET). However, the performance, as well as the cost, of these systems is limited by the properties of presently available scintillation detectors. This project will investigate a new class of scintilla ...