Award Data

This project aims to develop a membrane cascade for separation and concentration of biological components from environmental sample. The membrane cascade will compose a miniaturized, disposable module that can be integrated with many types of automated and/or portable biological detection systems. The membrane cascade is based on a unique nanoceramic materials platform, in which precise size-based ...

Iris biometrics offers the potential for highly accurate identity verification. However, over 25 million people in the United States and over 125 million people worldwide wear contact lenses, and it would be impractical to require users to remove their contact lenses for recognition purposes. As a result, developing methods to measure and mitigate any degradation associated with contact lenses and ...

This project develops superior, higher heat resistant plastic materials for use in face shields of personal protective equipment (PPE). To do so, a strategic partnership is formed between PolyNew Inc., a woman-owned small business, and Honeywell International, the leading global supplier of personal protective equipment. Additional expertise and facilities are captured through the inclusion of aca ...

Mobile devices are increasingly utilized in criminal and terrorist activities. These devices are an important source of evidence to law enforcement officers and forensic examiners. Since inception, viaForensics has developed innovative tools and techniques for officers and examiners leveraging the latest technologies in mobile device forensics. viaForensics has previously developed forensically so ...

The detection of neutrons is a critical capability for homeland security applications. Helium-3- based proportional counters are commonly employed; however, the supply of He-3 is insufficient to meet the demand. A replacement for He-3 detectors should efficiently detect neutrons in a gamma-ray background and be commercially available at prices equivalent to comparable detectors prior to the He-3 s ...

This proposed project is concerned with the design, fabrication, and demonstration of a new class of plasmonic nanostructures for single molecule surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy for biological and chemical sensing applications. A complete design of the plasmonic nanostructures with large local field enhancements (E/E0>100) will be formulated, and the fabrication procedures will be developed fo ...

Detecting light at the single photon level is a fundamental measurement function that is useful in a wide variety of applications, including such diverse fields as biological spectroscopy, laser ranging, and quantum communications. Avalanche photodiode (APD) based single photon detectors (SPDs) are very convenient in that they are small solid state devices that don"t require cryogenic cooling. Si- ...

In the past few years, there have been promising demonstrations of new approaches to short-gate (i.e., sub-nanosecond) operation of single-photon avalanche diodes (SPADs) with gating frequencies as high as 2 GHz. However, these demonstrations have had limitations, including operation at just a single fixed frequency, fairly high residual afterpulsing levels, and the lack of industrialization req ...

In this STTR program, Structured Materials Industries, Inc. (SMI) and partners will develop high efficiency, switchable RF filters. The technical approach is based on thin films of paraelectric BaxSr1-xTiO3 and SrTiO3, which can show piezoelectric behavior under an applied DC bias. When integrated into resonator structures, these materials can act as both an RF filter and an RF switch. Combinin ...

Current state-of-the-art infrared focal plane arrays are based on HgCdTe grown on bulk CdZnTe substrates. The use of Si-based substrates would eliminate a number of drawbacks related to the HgCdTe/CdZnTe system and permit larger formats. We have developed growth protocols that produce material with good crystal quality for such a highly mismatched heteroepitaxial system. Double crystal rocking c ...