Award Data

As strontium and other alkaline-earth metals become increasingly attractive for ultracold-atom applications, there is a growing need to develop compact, robust systems for cooling, trapping, and studying these elements. In this proposal, ColdQuanta will team with Dr. Jun Ye at JILA and the University of Colorado at Boulder to develop a portable, turn-key system that can produce, utilize, and optic ...

In collaboration with Sandia National Laboratory, Physical Sciences Inc (PSI) proposes to design, develop, and demonstrate a Frequency Agile Terahertz Sensor (FATS) for trace explosives residue detection. The critical frequency agile terahertz (THz) detector is based on an electronically tunable plasmonic grating-gate technology developed by our collaborators at Sandia. Phase I will further impr ...

The Air Force has expressed an interest in identification and evaluation of nanoscale device architectures capable of functional logical operation in a VLSI format. However, fundamental limits prevent straightforward extension of optical lithography to nanoscaled device fabrication. Non-conventional lithography techniques such as x-ray and particle based methods (e.g., electron beam lithography) p ...

Physical Sciences Inc. proposes an innovative, filter free approach to rapidly concentrate and detect bacterial spores from large volumes of flowing water for the purpose of early warning detection of contaminated potable water supplies against low concentration biological pathogens. Our approach builds on previous concentration work to study the feasibility of optimizing this approach and lays t ...

Solar cell technology is a promising alternative energy source. Present challenges for viable solar technology include decreasing material cost (using thin-film organic polymers), increasing production (using printing processes), and increasing the efficiency. Surface plasmon organic solar cells address these challenges. Surface-plasmons provide confinement in thin-film solar cells and allow for w ...

Physical Sciences, Inc. (PSI) proposes to demonstrate environmentally benign, low cost biological agent simulant particles that mimic the infrared, scatter, fluorescence and atomic absorption spectra of bacillus subtilis (BG), Erwinia herbicola (EH), and the MS2 Bacteriophage (MS2). These stimulant particles will be composed of materials that are commonly available foods or nutritional supplement ...

Physical Sciences Inc. (PSI) and its partners, Research Support Systems (RSI, a PSI-subsidiary) and Professor Thomas Strohmer of UC Davis, propose to develop an innovative approach that can be employed by an ‘on-the-move’ sensor constellation to determine the size (length, width, and height), absolute geo-location, and 3-D concentration distribution of chemical threat clouds released on battle ...

Physical Sciences Inc. (PSI), in partnership with the Electrical Engineering Department of the Worcester Polytechnic Institute (WPI), proposes to compute and reduce mutual coupling between E-field antennas (in Transmit mode) and SQUIDs magnetic loops (in Receive mode) for improved signal reception in SQIF arrays. For the computation of the mutual coupling in the near field PSI and WPI will use an ...

Physical Sciences Inc. (PSI) and Duke University propose to develop a hybrid, multifunctional, ultraviolet (UV) beam conditioner intended for laser beam switching, deflection, and frequency shifting for quantum computing applications. The beam conditioner consists of three functional blocks, separating the technology for frequency control, fast amplitude control, and electronic beam shuttering int ...

Missile tracking sensors such as radar and EO/IR are often called upon to track constellations of multiple closely spaced objects, and recognize pairs of matching tracks from each sensor"s view. The outcome of this track correlation process is crucial for missile defense interceptors, as any failure to identify matches with certainty, for example because of an excessive number of tracks associate ...