Award Data

Technology research and development in such areas as next-generation atomic clocks, quantum information processing with trapped ions, and atomic spectroscopy is impeded by the lack of commercially available laser sources that meet the required specifications of wavelength tuning range, output power, frequency-stability and reliability. Arete Associates is developing frequency-stable Optically Pump ...

Monitoring bathymetry changes in shipping channels of rivers and estuaries is vital to the US economy. The standard method of sonar depth sounding from survey ships, though accurate, is slow to perform. Thus, we propose a new and innovative approach for rapid assessment of shipping channel morphology from the kinematics associated with remote sensing of the interaction of Kelvin wakes from boats ...

In order to realize robust, inexpensive and routine DNA sequencing for medical, forensic, security and defense applications, new approaches must be pursued. One approach is the rapid readout of individual nucleotides as a single strand of DNA is drawn through a nanometer scale aperture. Although progress has been made with nanopore sequencing, some fundamental instrumental and system problems have ...

A novel chemical vapor deposition (CVD) based step-flow epitaxy process is proposed for controllable growth of SiC nanowires with high polytype integrity. SiC nanowires will be grown in a modified commercial high-temperature CVD reactor, used by industry for growing high-quality SiC epitaxial thin films. Different polytypes of SiC nanowires will be grown by choosing appropriate substrate materials ...

In recent years, there has been increasing concern about the role of man-made sound on the marine environment. For this effort, we propose developing an intuitive software interface for sound propagation modeling. This will be based on software developed at HLS Research, Inc. for similar applications. The software will use existing propagation modeling codes that have a long history in the unde ...

Intelligent Optical Systems, Inc. (IOS) proposes to develop a highly reliable, high fidelity, fiber optic hydrophone-based sensor that will consume low power, and offer a high signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) in the frequency range desired for monitoring marine acoustics. There is a need to advance the state-of-the-are of low power, portable hydrophones for recording fish spawning calls. Autonomous u ...

Modern supercontinuum (SC) light sources are generated by non-linear interactions between ultrashort pulse lasers and optical fibers. Output in near-ultraviolet to near-infrared wavelength ranges has been demonstrated. These light sources have high brightness and are spatially coherent. Recently, output to 4.5 µm was achieved using fluoride glass fibers; optical absorption by the fiber prevents l ...

Optical Physics Company is proposing a three axis interferometer instrument which measures the one dimensional linear translation and the two-dimensional angular deflection in pitch and yaw of a 7 mm mirror 18-23 cm away. The design is simple and compact, fitting within a 5x5x7.5 cm volume. An initial lab demonstration has already been completed showing performance parameters better than NIST requ ...

Southwest Sciences proposes development of residential fire sensing systems based on low cost optical imaging sensors combined with newly introduced highly miniaturized, low power CO sensors. Sensor modules will also include temperature sensors. The modules will be part of a low power wireless network. Each module will be about ½ the size of a business card, a few mm thick, and will operate for ...

A key factor of international efforts to identify and suppress the supply of and demand for nuclear materials, and thereby to deter potential traffickers, is the ability to accurately identify contradicted material and ultimately to trace it back to its origin. Alpha particle spectroscopy is widely used in nuclear forensics to assay trace quantities of sensitive nuclear materials, but the limited ...