Award Data

THE LACK OF REPRODUCIBLY UNIFORM, LOW-DEFECT GAAS MATERIAL REMAINS A MAJOR OBSTACLE TO THE DEVELOPMENT OF ADVANCED MICROWAVE DEVICE TECHNOLOGIES, ESPECIALLY DIGITAL AND MONOLITHIC MICROWAVE INTEGRATED CIRCUITS. SPIRE PROPOSES TO CIRCUMVENT THE SHORTCOMINGS OF MELT-GROWN GAAS WAFERS BY MEANS OF SUPERLATTICE BUFFER LAYERS, WHICH WOULD ACT AS BARRIERS TO THREADING DISLOCATIONS IN ADDITION TO PROVIDIN ...

THE FEASIBILITY OF ADDING A RAMAN DETECTION SYSTEM, FOR THE MEASUREMENT OF ATMOSPHERIC CONSTITUENTS, TO AN EXISTING BALLOONBORNE LIDAR PAYLOAD WILL BE INVESTIGATED. THE BALLOONBORNE LIAR IS CURRENTLY USED TO MAKE RAYLEIGH/MIE ATMOSPHERIC BACKSCATTER MEASUREMENTS. THE FEASIBILITY STUDY WILL INCLUDE, FOR THE VARIOUS TYPES OF RAMAN SCATTERING AN AN ERROR ANALYSIS BASED ON THE OPERATING PARAMETERS OF ...

THE OBJECTIVE OF THIS PROPOSAL IS THE DEVELOPMENT OF A PULSED MID-IR LASER IN THE 3.5 TO 4.1 MICROMETER ATMOSPHERIC TRANSMISSION WINDOW. SUCH SPECTRAL SOURCE IS RELEVANT TO A VARIETY OF TACTICAL APPLICATIONS. THE DF CHEMICAL LASER HAS BEEN THE CHOICE, BUT SUFFERS FROM WASTE FUEL MANAGEMENT PROBLEMS. NO OTHER EFFICIENT DIRECT LASING SOURCE IS AVAILABLE. TO OBTAIN SUCH A SOURCE, WE PROPOSE THE USE O ...

RECENTLY, RESEARCH AT SEVERAL GOVERNMENT FACILITIES HAS RESULTED IN SIGNIFICANT ADVANCES IN BOTH THE ELECTRONIC AND DETECTOR ASPECTS OF INTEGRATING RADIATION DOSIMETERS. ONE PARTICULAR APPROACH, THE LOS ALAMOS MULTIDETECTOR RADIATION MONITOR, IS A MICROPROCESSOR BASED INSTRUMENT, CAPABLE OF INTERROGATING SEVERAL DIFFERENT NUCLEAR DETECTORS SIMULTANEOUSLY. ALTHOUGH USING GEIGER TUBES FOR THE GAMMA ...

THE DEVELOPMENT OF A NEW MATERIAL TERMED "FIBROUS CARBON" IS PROPOSED. THIS MATERIAL IS FORMED BY THE PLASTICIZATION AND COMPACTION OF STABILIZED POLYACRYLONITRILE FIBERS FOLLOWED BY PYROLYSIS. PREVIOUS WORK HAS SHOWN GOOD TRANSLATION OF AXIAL FIBER PROPERTIES INTO THE FIBROUS CARBON. THIS PROPOSAL ADDRESSES THE DEVELOPMENT OF IMPROVED SHEAR PROPERTIES IN CARBON BASED MATERIALS NEEDED FOR AIR FORC ...

A SUBSTANTIAL AMOUNT OF THERMAL PROTECTION SYSTEM (TPS) MATERIAL CAN BE REMOVED BY ABLATIVE AND MECHANICAL EROSION. THIS CAN CAUSE CATASTROPHIC FAILURE OR STABILITY AND ACCURACY PROBLEMS OF REENTRY VEHICLES. THE TPS MUST BE ABLE TO PROTECT THE SUBSTRUCTURE AND INTERNAL COMPONENTS FROM DAMAGE INCURRED BY AERODYNAMIC HEATING AND PARTICLE IMPACT BUT NOT SUFFER WEIGHT PENALTIES ASSOCIATED WITH "OVERKI ...

ORDERED POLYMER MATERIALS PROCESSED FROM LIQUID CRYSTALLINE SOLUTIONS CAN BE USED WITH GLASS PROCESSED BY THE SOL-GEL METHOD TO PRODUCE A COMPOSITE WITH HOMOGENEITY ON A VERY SMALL SCALE. SUCH A "MICROCOMPOSITE" MATERIAL ROD-LIKE POLYMER PBT (POLY PHENYLENE BENZOBISTHIAZOLE) AND GLASS, SUCH AS SILICA, OFFERS SOME POTENTIAL ADVANTAGES. PBT WOULD PROVIDE HIGH TENSILE STRENGTH, STIFFNESS, TOUGHNESS, ...

AN INTEGRATED DRILL-LOAD-SHOT (IDLS) SYSTEM WILL BE DEVELOPED TO OVERCOME THE CURRENT DISADVANTAGES AND REALIZE THE POTENTIAL OF EXPLOSIVE EXCAVATION SYSTEMS. THE IDLS SYSTEM IS TEAMED WITH A UNIQUE SPIRAL DRILL AND BLAST CONCEPT, THE COMBINATION OF WHICH PERMITS NEARLY CONTINUOUS, RATHER THAN CYCLIC OPERATION. THIS CONCEPT PROVIDES A SIMPLE, REPETITIVE BLAST GEOMETRY, EFFICIENT BLASTING TO A FREE ...

HIGH PERFORMANCE ELECTRONIC CIRCUITS ARE EXCEEDING THE LIMITS OF EXISTING PACKAGING MATERIALS. RECENT DEVELOPMENTS IN SURFACE MOUNTING LEADLESS CHIPS, MULTI-LAYER CONSTRUCTION, AND HIGH SPEED DENSITY PACKED CIRCUITS DEMAND INNOVATIVE NEW MATERIALS. THE OBJECTIVE OF THIS PROGRAM TO DETERMINE THE FEASIBILITY OF NEW MATERIALS. PBT (POLYBENZTHIAZOLE) ORDERED POLYMER FILMS AS A SUBSTRATE MATERIAL IN AD ...

THIS COMBINED THEORETICAL AND EXPERIMENTAL PROGRAM WILL INVESTIGATE GENERATION OF ACOUSTIC SIGNALS WITH A CO2 LASER. ACOUSTIC SIGNAL GENERATION HAS BEEN DEMONSTRATED AND THIS PROGRAM WILL PROVIDE THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN LASER PARAMETERS AND ACOUSTIC PARAMETERS FOR THE EXPERIMENTALLY USED SEA ICE THICKNESS OF APPROXIMATELY 30 CENTIMETERS. THE EXPERIMENTS WILL BE PERFORMED IN THE ONLY COMMERCIALLY ...