Award Data

Research in silicon photonics has received much attention in recent years for its potential to utilize well developed silicon processing technology. A broad range of linear and nonlinear silicon photonic devices such as modulators, splitters, switches and detectors have been demonstrated. However, the most important challenge in silicon photonics thus far is the difficulty of making electrically p ...

The purpose of this STTR Phase II project is to continue research and development on novel fire resistant thermal barrier coatings (TBC) with low temperature flexibility. Polyurethane coatings are the most important segment of aircraft coatings. Excellent

Aerius Photonics is proposing to develop high-power Vertical Cavity Surface Emitting Lasers (VCSELs) and arrays on 4” substrates with an integrated thermal management approach to improve the thermal performance on an entirely wafer-level manufacturing compatible process. This is critical as waste heat and wafer-scale manufacturing approaches are driving factors for performance and costs in a la ...

Missile Defense Agency is seeking new technologies to reduce the tendency to form tin whiskers in electronic assemblies and microelectronic devices. RoHS regulations enacted by the European Union have generated a global shift toward Pb-free electronic components and circuitry. Pb-free solders create reliability problems in military applications such as aircraft and missiles that are subject to h ...

Ballistic Missle Defense (BMD) systems vary wildly in size and scope and include ground-based interceptor platforms with anti-ballistic missile (ABM) warheads, air-based high-power laser platforms such as the Airborne Laser (ABL), and ship-based systems such as the Aegis BMD system. The problems addressed in this proposal are the traditionally large sizes, number of support systems required, and l ...

Thermopile arrays manufactured using integrated process compatible materials and micro-machining will provide high performance with low manufacturing cost. Black Forest Engineering (BFE) teamed with Case Western Reserve University will design thermopiles using silicon based semiconductors and compare performance. Low cost thermopiles, differentially coupled with advanced BFE CMOS readout, will pr ...

Accurate real-time waterborne pathogen detection is of paramount importance to security of U.S. military forces and installations. Fieldable high-throughput pathogen concentration is a critical analytical need for enhanced detection performance. Existing concentration methods are time-consuming, bulky, labor-intensive, power- and reagent-hungry, and consequently ill-suited for battlefield deployme ...

Higher efficiency solar cells are needed to reduce mass, volume, and cost of DoD space missions. However, to achieve higher efficiency and radiation hardness of the best to date multi-junction photovoltaic (PV) devices, several challenges must be addressed. This project aims to develop: 1) Quantum Well (QW)-based multi-junction cell that exhibits enhanced efficiency, and 2) Radiation-hardened PV c ...

Lithium-air battery consists of a lithium anode electrochemically coupled to atmospheric oxygen through an air cathode. The major advantages of lithium air batteries are that air cathode active material, oxygen, is not stored internal to cell system and lithium anode being extremely lightweight metal with a highest theoretical specific energy density. This energy density is well comparable with t ...

Chemical agents in aerosol form have been identified as a major threat, and there is now interest in applying the long wave infrared frequency agile laser sensor to detection of this important agent form. If successful, it would be possible to perform detection of chemical agent vapors and aerosols and biological aerosol agents with a single dual-use sensor. To accomplish this, it is critical to ...