Award Data

Quantitative predictions of reactive flow dynamics from large-scale simulations of Liquid Rocket Engines (LRE) appear to be model dependent. Relationships and coupling among the dominant mechanisms most responsible for destabilization are obscured by the complexities of the model and subtle consequences of inherent ad hoc approximations not supported by mathematical rationale. The reliability of ...

Optonicus proposes development of the TAP-LAM (Test Article Printing with Laser Additive Manufacturing for Threat Surrogate Target Production) powder bed fusion and directed energy depositions systems. The TAP-LAM metal additive manufacturing system will advance strategic missile defense system testing capabilities by improving 3D printing methods to rapidly produce large-scale threat surrogate ta ...

ABSTRACT: Terahertz (THz) spectroscopies offer unmatched non-contact probing of low-energy excitations underlying electronic transport and magnetism in a wide range of novel materials. To-date, expensive and complex THz Time Domain Spectroscopy (THz-TDS) systems are the most common THz source used in these studies. Lower cost, continuous wave (CW-THz) spectroscopy systems can offer comparable per ...

ABSTRACT: Microscopy is a critical enabling technology for advancing our understanding of nature. Imaging nano-scale objects with light in the extreme ultraviolet (EUV) and soft x-ray regions of the spectrum has advantages over visible light for several reasons including: resolution, elemental specificity, and the ability to image internal structures. Coherent diffractive imaging (CDI) has been ...

Advanced ordnance and propulsion systems utillize materials, such as RDX and HMX, that provide good performance but cannot meet todays more stringent safety and environmental requirements. Unfortunately, in newer compounds created to replace them, the performance falls with the sensitivity. The ORBITEC team proposes the development of new energetic materials that will be both high performance and ...

The proposed work seeks to clearly demonstrate the advantage of the multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) radar architecture over a similar single-input multiple-output (SIMO) or phased array system; the benefit of applying data-adaptive signal processing techniques in favor of their data-independent counterparts; and the utility of transmitting advanced probing waveforms as opposed to conventiona ...

Opportunity: Guayule, a US native plant, is the only alternate rubber crop with an established, mechanized, agronomic system. Problem: Low rubber yields and lack of effective resin and bagasse coproduct valorization, have prevented widespread adoption by American farmers and processors. Rubber is only made when the cytoplasmic monomer pool (isopentenyl-pyrophosphate; IPP) is larger than that requi ...

This Small Business Technology Transfer Research phase I program will develop a new class of uncooled THz detectors for the 1-10THz band with a novel design using surface plasmon resonant cavities with integrated metal-insulator-metal tunneling diodes as the detecting element. Tunneling diodes provide ultrafast broadband response, potentially into the visible (300THz), but demonstrated performanc ...

This Small Business Technology Transfer Research phase I program will develop a new class of surface plasmon enhanced photovoltaic devices that exhibit increased current collection. Photon management, the manipulation of the incident optical field to increase the probability that a photon is absorbed in the active region of the cell, is critical to the development of next generation thin film sol ...

The technical objectives of this proposal are: (1) design a grating-coupled surface-emitting (GCSE) active-photonic-crystal (APC) 4.6 micron-emitting quantum-cascade laser (QCL) to deliver 15 W diffraction-limited CW power in the main lobe of the far-field beam pattern; (2) design a GCSE-APC QCL structure with monolithic aperture-filling optical elements for obtaining close to 90 % of the surface- ...