Award Data

Characterization of liquid aerosol droplets in agent defeat scenarios presents enormous challenges, in part due to high optical density conditions in sprays generated from shock or fragment interactions with liquid-filled containers.  We propose a new diagnostic that can probe optically dense regions, based on optical scattering of laser light from particles/droplets.  Our diagnostic instrument ...

Actoprobe LLC proposes development of a novel class of Atomic Force Microscopy (AFM) active optical probes with dramatically increased sensitivity and spatial resolution for Near-Field Optical Nanospectroscopy and Nanoscopy. The innovation is accomplished by integrating a diode laser source and a photodetector into a silicon AFM probe in such a way that both the AFM tip and detector are inside the ...

Physical Sciences Inc. proposes to develop and mature the Network Fusion Radiation Analysis Tool (NFRAT) to address the need for an enhanced radiation hazard mapping, localization and identification capability in support of contamination avoidance operations and sensitive site exploitation. The NFRAT software will utilize dynamic representations of the radiological environment and statistical mode ...

There is a growing need to accurately characterize nuclear materials not only for nuclear safeguards and nonproliferation treaty verification but also for forensics and provenance. At present, nuclear material identification requires samples to be collected and sent to laboratories for analysis using large and expensive equipment, such as inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometers (ICP-MS) or s ...

An artificial intelligence solution (AI) is proposed that utilizes very recent advances in machine learning and deep learning to improve Atom Trap Trace Analysis (ATTA) image analysis. The proposed solution shortens turnaround times and extends the capabilities of ATTA systems allowing a full accounting, across densities, of the nature and number of radionuclides in the images to be analyzed. The ...

This work is focused on the development of fabrication technology for large form-factor scintillation crystals for multi-modal detection of radioactive sources, and development of mobile imaging and mapping instruments based on these large format scintillators.

Gamma dosimetry is an integral part of radiation safety and protection for a wide range of military operations. For these applications, Geiger Müller (GM) tube is used as the standard gamma dose rate sensor. The cost-to-performance metric for this sensor type has reached a plateau and new sensor materials are needed for the next generation of dosimeters. Recently there has been a vast development ...

This proposal for Phase II in response to the Defense Threat Reduction Agency (DTRA) topic 212-006 “Algorithm that can locally link radiation detectors (of different resolutions) to enhance identification/ localization capability”. The topic describes the need for an algorithm to support the fusion of multiple and varied detector outputs into actionable information. The specific focus is to id ...

Atom Trap Trace Analysis (ATTA) has proven to be a valuable technique for detecting rare gas radioisotopes. By tuning the frequency of a laser to the resonance of a desired isotope, only atoms of that isotope are captured by a magneto-optical trap (MOT) and detected by observing its fluorescence with a CCD camera. Existing approaches rely on manually selecting a region-of-interest (ROI) of image p ...

The event of nuclear explosion generates harsh radiation conditions, evaluation of which is critical in protecting the military and civilian personnel from serious harm.  Due to these harsh conditions only very simple methods of radiation assessment are employed, such as measurement of equivalent dose.  Improvements to current instrumentation are sought that would provide energy resolved dose in ...