Award Data

Metal photoinjector cathode development has shown recent promise with nano-patterning technology. However, in order to be competitive with semi-conductor cathodes, a further enhancement in efficiency is needed. TECHNICAL APPROACH Specific nano-patterning of sub-wavelength features to produce antennae provides coupling of incoming laser light with the surface of the metal cathode. Bowtie nano-anten ...

The Groundbased Nuclear Detonation Detection Research and Development office seeks advanced technology for the monitoring of explosion events using infrasonic signatures. Silicon Audio, Inc. and The University of Texas at Austin are working together to develop a microelectromechanicalsystem (MEMS) based piezoelectric infrasonicsensor technology. The sensor aims to exceed all of the threshold speci ...

Small Modular Reactors (SMRs) are one of the most compelling options for meeting the growing clean energy demands of the U.S. While safer and costing less to build and operate than their conventional counterparts, the unique requirements of SMRs pose significant challenges to the maintenance of their I & amp;C systems, especially due to the likelihood of fewer process sensors. Lacking the sensor ...

The product concept combines stability and high gas transport of amorphous fluoropolymers with high selectivity of silver salts to create a new membrane with excellent separation, fouling resistance to sulfurous and other gases, and superb stability at high flux.

A key requirement for microalgae biofuels production is a very low cost harvesting technology. Commercially available solidliquid separation technologies applicable to microalgae, such as chemical coagulation, membrane separations and centrifugation, are too costly for biofuels production or other lowcost microalgae processes, such as wastewater treatment. A low cost harvesting process is bio floc ...

Ultrasound is a therapeutic modality which has been used clinically for 60 years, but has been limited in practice by the complexity of the technology. Recent research has allowed for the development of a portable, wearable, long duration, low intensity therapeutic ultrasound system. The system is powered by battery, and can be applied by a user to deliver up

The feasibility for fusion as a practical energy source needs to be enhanced significantly by removing some of the restrictions that low-temperature superconductors put on the fusion magnet systems. This can be done by using high-temperature superconductors, allowing for much larger temperature margins, a higher magnet performance and less mechanical degradation during operation. There are curren ...

Many important technology challenges today such as the capacity and life time of batteries require new characterization techniques to understand and improve performance. In the STTR Phase II project, novel x-ray microscope techniques and software are developed to be able to image samples in three dimensions and determine chemical composition and function on a microscopic level. As known from ubi ...

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Infrared spectroscopy is the most widely used technique for chemical characterization with a worldwide market of over $1B annually. Conventional infrared spectroscopy suffers, however, from fundamental spatial resolution limits that prohibit its application at the nanoscale. This has prevented widespread use of IR spectroscopy in the growing field of nanoscale materials. The atomic force microsc ...