• AFRL Scientist Earns Defense Department's Top Civilian Service Award

    Dr. Boris Tomasic from the Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL) has been named a recipient of the 57th annual Department of Defense Distinguished Civilian Service Award.This award is the highest honor given by the Secretary of Defense to career civilian personnel. Dr. Tomasic is principal/senior

  • AFRL Transitions Improved Avionics Hatch for Unmanned Aircraft

    The Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL) is improving the maintainability and sustainability of aircraft components through the successful transition of an improved avionics hatch for use on the Orion Remotely Piloted Aircraft (RPA).AFRL researchers, in conjunction with Aurora Flight Sciences and

  • AFRL’s Support of Nanolithography Pioneer Continues to Pay Off

    In 1997, the Air Force Research Laboratory took a chance on a process called Dip-Pen Nanolithography (DPN), "a far out idea" which proved to be basic research that changed the world. First highlighted in the journal Science in January 1999, DPN is a technology that builds nanoscale structures and

  • The First "Metatronic" Circuit

    The Air Force Research Laboratory is supporting University of Pennsylvania researchers who are pushing circuitry forward in a radically different way: replacing electricity with light. The Penn research group has created the first physical demonstration of "lumped" optical circuit elements,

  • AFRL Program Results in Unique Terahertz Source for Scanning

    An Air Force Research Laboratory-funded program at Microtech Instruments, Inc. resulted in a uniquely capable terahertz source that can be employed in airport scanning. The Terahertz Parametric Oscillator (TPO-1500) averages up to 0.1 mW of power, but significantly, its central 1.5 THz wavelength,

  • AFRL-funded Research Leads to Super-Strong Nano-based Muscles

    Funding by the Air Force Research Laboratory is supporting a University of Texas/Dallas research team's pioneering work in artificial muscle types, including electrochemical carbon nanotube and conducting polymer muscles, as well fuel-powered muscles. This pioneering work stems from an exploratory

  • Nanocomposite Coating Offers Protection Against Assortment of Agents

    Research funded by the Air Force Research Laboratory has resulted in a coating that shields surfaces from myriad liquids, including toxic hydrochloric and sulfuric acids. The coating also provides protection against the coffee, soy sauce and vegetable oil, and has proved resistant to resistant to

  • Smaller Antennas Could Further Shrink Hand-held Electronics

    Just when it appeared that our hand-held electronic devices could not get smaller or more efficient, a research program funded by the Air Force Research Lab developed an innovative fabrication process to produce small, efficient antennas about the size of a quarter. Dr. Anthony Grbic leads a team of