Award Data

The ever-decreasing size of the electronic microchips and the ever-increasing density of electronic components required to support future Air Force platforms are creating the problem of substantial localized heat generation that can impair component operation. State of the art thermal interface materials (TIMs), that are used to dissipate heat from the source to the spreader in a microchip, are se ...

Detecting explosives and weapons under clothing or in hand carried packages, and imaging terrain and objects through fog and smoke are two high-priority needs that can be met using light in the Terahertz frequency range. However, to image concealed threats, and aid in navigation in fog and smoke, a practical, low cost THz camera is needed. Intelligent Optical Systems (IOS) in collaboration with Re ...

The objective of Phase I is to identify the strengths and weaknesses of the various multi-reference coupled-cluster (MRCC) methods that have been proposed for the description of molecular states depending upon near degeneracies and non-dynamic electron correlation. Such effects are encountered in bond breaking, at transition states, for complex open shell systems like transition metal atoms, and f ...

Joint Space Operations Center under the United States Strategic Command employs a worldwide network of 29 sensors, known as the Space Surveillance Network (SSN), to track more than 17,000 man-made objects in Earth orbit with sizes 10 centimeters or larger. Decisive Analytics Corporation and the University of Texas Austin Center for Space Research propose an innovate framework for solving stochast ...

Single-reference coupled cluster (SRCC) methods have revolutionized our ability to accurately predict molecular energies and properties. As new developments in theory and computer science extend the application of SRCC methods to larger and larger systems, advancements in coupled cluster methods for studying multi-reference systems have lagged far behind. DECISIVE ANALYTICS Corporation has teame ...

The Air Force has a strategic need for a fuel source that is renewable (and which does not rely on foreign petroleum sources). Several approaches to a renewable fuel source have been investigated; with “artificial photosynthesis” being one example. At its core, the photosynthesis reaction is a photoinduced charge separation reaction with light being concentrated by antenna complexes onto a c ...

The occurrence of combustion instability has long been a matter of serious concern in the development of liquid-propellant rocket engines due to the high rate of energy release in a confined volume in which energy losses are relatively small. Shear layer instabilities and intermittent growth rates of the mixing layer cause fluctuations in the burning rates and result in acoustic waves triggering ...

DOLCE Technologies, LLC, in collaboration with Professor Rick Averitt’s research group at Boston University and Eric Shaner’s group at Sandia National Laboratories, will develop and deliver a high performance room-temperature Terahertz detector array solution based on metamaterial absorbers integrated with bi-material cantilevers. The metamaterial approach is frequency scalable and can operat ...

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 ...