Award Data

A CRYOCOOLER CAPABLE OF OPERATING UNDER EXTREMELY HIGH ACCELERATION LEVELS IS PROPOSED. THE CRYOCOOLER USES THE LINDE-HAMPSON CYCLE, AND CAN REACH APPROXIMATELY 80 KELVIN. MULTI-STAGE UNITS, TO REACH LOWER TEMPERATURES, ARE ALSO POSSIBLE.

THE ACQUISITION OF POST BOOST PHASE VEHICLES AND/OR INDIVIDUAL REENTRY VEHICLES BY AN INFRARED SENSOR ON BOARD A SMALL G HARDENED PROJECTILE WHICH SUBSEQUENTLY HOMES ON AND IMPACTS ITS TARGET OFFERS AN ATTRACTIVE APPROACH FOR REENTRY VEHICLE KINETIC ENERGY KILL. THE ACQUISITION, TRACKING, DISCRIMINATION AND GUIDANCE FUNCTIONS REQUIRED OF SUCH AN IR SENSOR RESULT IN A NUMBER OF CRITICAL ISSUES. THE ...

SINGLE EVENT UPSETS (SEUS) INDUCED BY IONIZING RADIATION CONSTITUTE ONE OF THE MOST PRESSING PROBLEMS OF SEMICONDUCTOR TECHNOLOGY. AN UNDERSTANDING OF THE PHYSICAL MECHANISMS ASSOCIATED WITH CHARGE COLLECTION HAS ALREADY FURTHERED THE DEVELOPMENT OF HARDENING PROCEDURES. THIS UNDERSTANDING HAS DEVELOPED, IN LARGE PART THROUGH IMPLEMENTATION OF TRANSIENT NUMERICAL SIMULATIONS OF SEUS. HOWEVER, AT P ...

THE DEVELOPMENT OF HIGH POWER, HIGH REPETITION RATE CLOSING SWITCHES HAS RECENTLY BECOME IMPORTANT FOR MANY PULSED POWER APPLICATIONS. HISTORICALLY, HIGH REPETITION RATE SWITCHES FOR PULSED POWER APPLICATIONS HAVE EITHER BEEN SPARK GAPS OR THYRATRONS. THYRATRONS HAVE HIGH REPETITION RATES, BUT ARE LIMITED TO LOW VOLTAGES AND LOW CURRENT. CONVERSELY, SPARK GAPS CAN CARRY HIGH CURRENTS AND STAND-OFF ...

MANY OF THE SYSTEMS FOR SDI INVOLVE PULSE POWER AND HIGH VOLTAGE SYSTEMS, INCLUDING LASERS, PARTICLE BEAM ACCELERATORS, AND RAILGUNS. ONE OF THE SIGNIFICANT PROBLEMS YET TO BE SOLVED IN DEVELOPING OPERATIONAL SDI SPACECRAFT IS THE MANAGEMENT OF ELECTRIC FIELDS WITHIN THE SPACECRAFT, THE PRIMARY WEAPON SYSTEM, AND ITS POWER SUPPLY AND CONDITIONING EQUIPMENT. THE ELF CODES UNIQUELY HAVE THE ABILITY ...

RECENT TECHNOLOGY ADVANCES HAVE DEMONSTRATED THE POSSIBILITY OF FABRICATING SATISFACTORY ELECTRONIC DIAMOND FILMS IN REASONABLE QUANTITIES. AS A CONSEQUENCE OF THIS, OLDER DESIGNS ARE BEING REWORKED AND NEW DEVICE STRUCTURES DEVELOPED THAT TAKE ADVANTAGE OF THE SEMICONDUCTING DIAMOND. HOWEVER, IT HAS BEEN THE EXPERIENCE OF THE SEMICONDUCTING COMMUNITY THAT DESIGN FEATURES SUITABLE FOR ONE SEMICOND ...

POLYMERIC OR CERAMIC INSULATORS CONVENTIONALLY ARE BEING USED IN HIGH VOLTAGE PULSED SYSTEMS. NEW APPROACHES ARE NEEDED THAT WOULD REDUCE INSULATORS RING THICKNESSES AND INCREASE CORRESPONDING GRADING RINGS FLASHOVER VOLTAGE. SUCH AN APPROACH WOULD POSSESS IN COMPARISON TO CONVENTIONAL INSULATORS: HIGHER SURFACE FLASHOVER FIELD STRENGTH; SMALLER PHYSICAL DIMENSIONS FOR EQUIVALENT VOLTAGE HOLDOFF; ...

THE DEVELOPMENT OF HIGH POWER, LOW IMPEDANCE, LIGHTWEIGHT ENERGY STORAGE TRANSMISSION LINES FOR PULSE-POWER APPLICATIONS IS CRUCIAL FORSMALLER, LIGHTWEIGHT, SPACE-BASED, PULSE-POWER SYSTEMS. DEVELOPMENT OF HIGH DIELECTRIC ENERGY STORAGE LINE TECHNOLOGY WOULD GREATLY REDUCETHE SIZE, WEIGHT, AND COMPLEXITY OF PULSE POWER SYSTEMS UTILIZING THESE TYPES OF COMPONENTS. EFFICIENT TRANSPORT OF 400KV, 100K ...

THE NEXT GENERATION OF HIGH POWER, HIGH FREQUENCY ELECTRONIC DEVICE TECHNOLOGY WILL BE BASED ON WIDE BANDGAP SEMICONDUCTOR MATERIALS SUCH AS SIC, GAN AND DIAMOND. OF THESE, SILICON CARBIDE IS THE MOST PROMISING MATERIAL FOR NEAR TERM APPLICATIONS, SINCE ITS PROCESSING SHARES MANY COMMON FEATURES WITH WELL-ESTABLISHED SILICON PROCESSING. TECHNOLOGY HAS BEEN DEMONSTRATED FOR PRODUCING OHMIC AND SCHO ...

HIGH POWER AND HIGH TEMPERATURE ELECTRONIC DEVICES ARE IMPORTANT IN BOTH DEFENSE AND COMMERCIAL SYSTEMS. BETA SILICON CARBIDE IS AN EXCELLENT CANDIDATE SEMICONDUCTOR MATERIAL FOR DEMANDING APPLICATIONS DUE TO ITS HIGH BREAKDOWN VOLTAGE, RELATIVELY LARGE BAND GAP, HIGH THERMAL CONDUCTIVITY AND HIGH MELTING POINT. USE OF SILICON CARBIDE THIN FILMS IS HAMPERED, HOWEVER, BY THE INABILITY TO REPRODUCIB ...