Award Data

Certain lanthanide halides have significantly higher light output than NaI:Tl, the comparison standard for scintillators, plus other important properties, including fast decay times and excellent proportionality. Unfortunately, lanthanide halides grown by traditional melt processes have high production costs and limited availability. Crystals are usually limited to about 5 cm x 5 cm, right cylinde ...

It is proposed to develop a novel process for growth of high quality CZT crystals for nuclear detection applications. Currently the THM process is the technology of choice for production of high quality CZT crystals. This process, however, suffers from extremely low growth rates. The development effort proposed here will seek to increase the crystal growth rate by 5-10 times the current levels ...

Three nuclides are especially useful in detecting thermalized neutrons: helium-3, lithium-6 , and boron-10. Since current demand will deplete reserves of helium-3 in roughly two years, there is a large desire to develop detectors that have the capacity to replace helium-3 tubes. In this proposal we spell out our plan to adapt Neotron''s already developed fission neutron detector into a high effic ...

Until now gamma radiation detection has required large single crystals of sensitive materials that are difficult to produce consistently on an industrial scale. In collaboration with a research group at the University of Texas at Arlington, Agiltron proposes to develop a new class of nanocomposite scintillator materials. The radiation detection characteristics of the synthetic nanoparticles in the ...

High-resolution scintillation crystals and crystal arrays are important components of current and future handheld and arrayed detectors (used for DOD/DTRA applications), and scintillation spectrometers (routinely used in high energy physics research, medical imaging, diffraction, homeland security, nuclear waste clean-up, nuclear treaty verification and safeguards, and geological exploration). Un ...

DTRA uses high-resolution mesoscale forecasts to drive HPAC, the DTRA dispersion modeling tool that generates critical forecasts of dosage resulting from releases of chemical, biological, or radiological agents. HPAC is designed to provide probablistic information based on estimates of the uncertainty of the input forecast fields of the meteorological variables (wind, temperature, etc.). ...

U.S. forces working in low-level radiation environments have unsatisfactory choices for monitoring radiation exposure. The currently available A/UDR-13 pocket dosimeter is able to meet sensitivity requirements, but is cost prohibitive at ~$400 per unit, and it fails in the high temperature environments faced our military. Careful monitoring and accurate reporting of the exposed dose will reduce t ...

Proliferation of the weapons of mass destruction such as nuclear weapons is a serious threat in the world today. Prevention of the spread of nuclear weapons has reached a state of heightened urgency in recent years, especially since the events on September 11, 2001 and its aftermath. Gamma ray spectrometers are an important tool in checking the proliferation of the nuclear weapons. Important re ...

Conventional weapons rely on blast and fragmentation as the primary defeat mechanism, whereas non-energetic payloads rely on other means to defeat the target. Non-energetic weapons may defeat targets by the dispersion of aerosols (solid or liquid) or gases to interact with critical target elements. The objective is to cause some combination of denial, disruption, degradation, or destruction witho ...

Discontinuous graphite fiber reinforced aluminum magnesium matrix composite with microscopically dispersed add-on oxidizer coating is proposed for the application of enhanced lethality munitions. The composite with the coating is light-weight and reactive, which will generate high reaction temperature and a large amount of reaction heat. The composite also has sufficient mechanical strength for ...