Material

Recent advances of high power solid state lasers promises necessary laser power levels required for the Directed Energy Weapons (DEW) systems. However, inefficiencies of the laser components still generate too much waste heat to be managed by conventional liquid cooling systems, especially in an airborne platform where compactness, light-weight and …

The inductors along with capacitors and resistors, inductors are one of the three passive elements that are the foundations of all electronics. An inductor works by inducing a magnetic field as an electric current flows through its coil of wire. This magnetic field temporarily stores electric energy as magnetic energy, …

Modern warfare is increasingly dependent on microelectronics capabilities that sense the environment, convert the signals into data streams, process the information, and generate a response. In this sense, Aerospace and Defense (A-D)  systems are quite similar to commercial systems that perform communications and computations, while taking advantage of the advancement …

Thermoelectric energy harvesting mainly depends on the operation of the thermoelectric generator (TEG). A thermoelectric (TE) device can directly convert heat emanating from the Sun, radioisotopes, automobiles, industrial sectors, or even the human body to electricity.  A TEG converts heat directly into electrical energy according to the Seebeck effect.   …

In 1911, a Dutch scientist discovered a class of materials which, at temperatures near absolute zero, could conduct electricity with no resistance and therefore zero loss of power. These materials called Superconductors have unique properties including, Zero resistance to direct current;  Extremely high current carrying density; Extremely low resistance at …

The piezoelectric effect was discovered by brothers Pierre and Jacques Curie in 1880, and named after the Greek word piezein, that means to press or squeeze. They found that certain crystals were able to generate an electrical charge when mechanically loaded with tension or pressure. If exposed to an electric …

The need for more energy-efficient computers is urgent. The Department of Energy projects that, with the computer chip industry expected to expand to several trillion dollars in the next few decades, energy use by computers could skyrocket from 3 percent of all U.S. energy consumption today to 20 percent, nearly …

REEs are a series of chemical elements found in the Earth’s crust that are essential components of many technologies, including electronics, computer and communication systems, transportation, health care, and national defense. Rare Earths Elements (REE) are incorporated into many sophisticated technologies with both commercial and defense applications including smartphones and …

Today, silicon microchips underlie every aspect of digital computing. Now Moore’s Law is stuttering, and the world’s supercomputer builders are confronting an energy crisis. But those big gains using silicon seem to have ended, with the high-end Intel Core i7 chips, for instance, have been on computer store shelves for …