Award Data

A pulsed neutron generator is proposed for the detection of special nuclear material. A recently developed microwave-excited plasma neutron generator will be pulsed to produce the activating neutrons whose pulse lengths vary from 100 microseconds to 2 ms with a fall time of less than 1 microseconds. We demonstrated that we can increase the peak yield as a function of either RF or microwave power, ...

Proliferation of nuclear weapons is a serious threat in the world today. One way to determine the presence of nuclear weapons is to detect neutrons emitted by special nuclear material(SNM) such as highly enriched uranium and weapons grade plutonium. The purpose of this project is to develop improved solid state neutron detectors from CVD diamond for homeland security applications. Phase I work wil ...

The use and applications of radiological sources, for power, medical, and defense applications, continuously increases with time. Illicit nuclear materials represent a threat for the safety of the American citizens and the detection and interdiction of a nuclear weapon is a national problem that has not been yet solved. This represents an enormous challenge to current detection methods and monitor ...

Boston MicroSystems (BMS) proposes to develop a cell-phone sized instrument for detecting hazardous chemical and explosive threats. The instrument is based on BMS' PicoSensor® chemical and explosives detection platform, which has been developed in part under DHS support and is capable of sensing explosives and toxic chemicals at ppb and even ppt (trillion) levels. The Picoensor® consists of a ME ...

THE SIGNAL-TO-NOISE RATIO OF INFRARED DETECTORS INCREASES DRAMATICALLYAS THE TEMPERATURE OF THE DETECTOR IS REDUCED TO CRYOGENIC TEMPERATURES AND THERE HAS BEEN A SUBSTANTIAL IMPROVEMENT IN CRYOCOOLERS TO MEET THIS NEED. HOWEVER, VALVES OF ONE TYPE OF CRYOCOOLER, THE JOULE-THOMPSON EXPANSION CRYOCOOLER, ARE PRONE TO PLUGGING BY THE FREEZING OF IMPURITIES IN THE HIGH-PRESSURE STREAM. TO ADDRESS THI ...

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RECHARGEABLE POWER SOURCES POSSESSING HIGH ENERGY DENSITIES, BRIEF BUTREPETITIVE HIGH CURRENT OUTPUTS, AND THOUSANDS OF DUTY CYCLES ARE REQUIRED FOR STRATEGIC DEFENSE SYSTEMS. TO ADDRESS THESE NEEDS, HIGH SURFACE AREA, THIN FILM CATHODES ARE BEING FABRICATED FOR AMBIENT TEMPERATURE LITHIUM BATTERIES. THESE CATHODES FEATURE AN ARRAY OF APPROXIMATELY L MICROMETER MICROCRYSTALLITE TIS2 PLATES ORIENTE ...

Threat materials can take many shapes and therefore this software tool must be able to perform anomaly detection instead of specific shape detection. The problem of solely relying on a database of images and a matching algorithm is that objects in the image may be shifted, rotated, or the image quality is too poor for a reliable match. Thus, this proposal focuses on the development of an anomaly r ...

A SYSTEMATIC MEANS IS BEING DEVELOPED TO RELIABLY DEPOSIT OPTICAL-AND/OR TRIBOLOGICAL-QUALITY DIAMOND THIN FILMS ON SUBSTRATES RELEVANT TO STRATEGIC DEFENSE NEEDS. TO ACHIEVE THIS OBJECTIVE, THE CONDITIONS OF THIN FILM DIAMOND SYNTHESIS BY ELECTRON-ASSISTED PLASMA-ENHANCED CHEMICAL VAPOR DEPOSITS ARE BEING CORRELATED WITH THE RESULTING AS-DEPOSITED MICROSTRUCTURE (GRAIN SIZE AND ORIENTATION). CORR ...

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