• Materials Innovation Amplifies Terahertz Power and Performance

    Air Force Research Laboratory materials experts' discovery that single-walled [carbon] nanotubes boost terahertz imaging capabilities resolves a fundamental limitation in the lab's Hazardous Material Identification System. That directed energy system has heretofore generated its terahertz beam via

  • Fuels Researchers Flock to Aquatic Feedstock

    Given that "flocculation" is an essential step in amassing aquatic microalgae for subsequent harvest as biofuel feedstock, a lab-sponsored program at the University of Puerto Rico-Mayagüez is researching methods for efficiently performing this all-important concentrating/partitioning process. The

  • STEM Puts Students in the Driver's "SEAT"

    A cross-directorate collaboration of scientists and engineers is engaging with Dayton, Ohio, high school students as part of a Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics endeavor managed by Noble Solutions and sponsored locally by the Air Force Research Laboratory. As the program name

  • HBCU Research Nets Double-or-Nothing Heat Transfer

    Addressing major challenges related to the high-heat-flux thermal management of current and future airborne tactical platforms (especially directed energy weapons), researchers funded through Air Force Research Laboratory's Historically Black Colleges and Universities program developed novel

  • Research Quenches Need for Mixed-Dimensional Coil Modeling

    Motivated by the need for more in-depth study of yttrium barium copper oxide-coated superconducting coil--a technology of substantial value to compact, lightweight power applications of great interest to the Air Force--Florida A&M University researchers created a hybrid, finite element model of

  • HPM Tests Mark Advanced Flight Control Progress

    A multidisciplinary team of Air Force Research Laboratory researchers recently completed a series of high-power microwave tests ultimately aimed at reducing the susceptibility of modern air vehicles to potentially damaging electromagnetic, or radio frequency, sources. Conducted at the US Army's HPM

  • Process Maturation Helps Solar Cells Shine

    By working to mature practices in place for manufacturing high-efficiency, multijunction space solar cells, Air Force Research Laboratory's Manufacturing Technology Division enabled key improvements in the critical performance, mass, and volume of warfighter-specific satellite payloads. Leveraging

  • AOS Team Aids Haitian Earthquake Recovery

    In their development and subsequent application of a new chemical system for rubber removal, Air Force Research Laboratory materials specialists were able to remove dangerous buildup from a runway at Port-au-Prince's Toussaint Louverture International Airport. Compact, lightweight, and requiring no

  • Gold Nanoparticles Increase Viral "Brainpower"

    As a first step in exploring viral (peptide) bonding mechanisms that could eventually form the building blocks of highly complex computational systems and other transition-metals-based technologies of tomorrow, researchers from the Air Force Research Laboratory and the University of Mexico

  • Space Responsiveness à la Carte

    In the ongoing pursuit of operationally responsive space technologies, Air Force Research Laboratory scientists created the first miniature plug-and-play Appliqué Sensor Interface Module. The mini module, Space Plug-and-Play Avionics-1, is an ultracompact, ultra-low-power protocol that supports the