Award Data

Phase I has proven that the current setup achieves better than 8mm spatial resolution for 2.2MeV prompt gammas. However, 1mm spatial resolution presents a significant challenge for the current setup due in part to limited timing resolution and count rate. A new analog ASIC will be developed to replace the current analog ASIC that will have better timing resolution and deliver higher count rates. I ...

This project will develop a new scientific instrument optimized for the advanced characterization of near-infrared fluorescent nanoparticles that can exist as left- or right-handed structures (enantiomers). Single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWCNTs) are the leading current example of such nanomaterials. Applied NanoFluorescence, LLC (ANF) proposes a novel multi-mode chiroptical spectrometer that can ...

Modern Model-Based Enterprise / Engineering (MBE) systems rely on freeform surfaces built as complex combinations of geometric primitives to define engineered objects. Unfortunately, the intersection of freeform surfaces in MBE applications results in highly approximated solutions, degrading models that cost billions annually by US industry to fix. Current technology limits the abilities of users ...

Industrial facilities, manufacturing plants, and electric power plants that burn fossil fuels exhaust the combustion products to atmosphere through their smokestacks. Stack pollutant emissions are quantified using manual testing methods developed in the 1960s, which are prone to error if non-axial flow exists in a stack.Recently, NIST has been working on an improved technique of performing 3D flow ...

In this Phase I SBIR proposal, SandBox Semiconductor™ proposes to develop an Advanced Manufacturing and Material Measurements software tool called Weave ™ for accelerating and automating SEM image analysis for the semiconductor industry. During the development of a new manufacturing process line for a semiconductor device, tens of thousands of scanning electron microscopy (SEM) images are take ...

To evaluate the technical feasibility of prompt gamma neutron activation (PGAA) as an alternative to a set of standard destructive tests of concrete petrography including aggregate type, water/cement ratio, aggregate/binder ratio, density, chloride content and chloride bulk diffusion constant; and to determine the specifications for the design of a dedicated commercial laboratory-based PGAA facili ...

We propose a fiber-pigtailed strained silicon platform for tunable difference frequency generation (DFG) in mid-infrared (MIR) with tunable continuous wave near-infrared (NIR) sources. Stress exerted by silicon nitride induces second-order nonlinear susceptibility c(2) on underlying centro-symmetric silicon. NIR light is coupled into silicon and MIR light is coupled out of silicon using sub-wavele ...

Low Thermal Electronics, Inc. proposes to design a stand-alone, programmable voltage source capable of supplying precision voltages in the range of zero to 1,000 volts direct current (DC), with options for scaling up to 10,000 volts, and with a total expanded uncertainty (k=2) of less than 10uV/V for the 10,000 volt version. This instrument will improve state-of-the-art measurements in high resist ...

The ISABEL program will create symbolic execution signatures to classify bugs in the NIST Bugs Framework. Using the symbolic execution signature ISABEL will find a program input to trigger the bug using fuzz testing. ISABEL will integrate its bug categorization and bug triggering capability with a software development environment using a flexible framework that will allow both open source and comm ...

This project focuses on developing a magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) contrast agent that may increase the detection of tagged cells by a factor of 10-100. The ability to noninvasively track specifically labeled (tagged) cells, enables a researcher or medical treatment professional to dynamically monitor the delivery and targeted application of medicinal and bio-reactive agents.