Functional Materials and Devices
Abstract
The Functional Materials and Devices thrust will address problems with high performance functional materials development. Functional materials deployed for applications are most often bulk structures and performance is limited to those properties found in nature. Improved materials require deliberate control at the scale of the relevant phenomena. This thrust will leverage the advanced fabrication capabilities currently available, coupled with design of material and structure, to drive functional materials to high performance for DoD applications by design. Novel optical materials exploiting three-dimensional degrees of freedom to increase wavefront control, and IR emissive materials are examples of near-term materials in which design of structure at the scale of the critical phenomena can have significant impact on their performance. To eliminate the intelligence surveillance and reconnaissance capability gap that currently exists at the soldier-scale, capability will be developed to provide high space/time resolution throughout the soldier-scale, space/time sphere of influence by developing task-specific functionality. These functions include hands-free zoom, automated brightness adjustment, threat detection, targeting assistance, change detection, and supplementary data overlay. This thrust will also explore newly emerging areas where structure may play an important role.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Accomplishment
- Publication Date
- Oct 01, 2013
- Source ID
- 93bcf76ccae5822d7dd870bbf797a93f