Some improvements have been made in the formulation of holographically formed polymer-dispersed liquid crystals (H-PDLCs) and in the fabrication of devices made from these materials, with resulting improvements in performance. H-PDLCs are essentially volume Bragg gratings. Devices made from HPDLCs function as...

Several documents in a collection discuss a proposal to use clusters of appropriately phased, relatively small microwave antennas to obtain high levels of effective isotropically radiated power (EIRP) for transmission of data from spacecraft to Earth during exploration of distant planets. The advantages of...

Modules of additional drive circuitry have been developed to enhance the functionality of a family of commercially available positioning motors (Picomotor™ or equivalent) that provide linear motion controllable, in principle, to within increments ≤30 nm. A motor of this type includes a...

Improved transmission-line pulse generators of the vector-inversion type are being developed as lightweight sources of pulsed high voltage for diverse applications, including spacecraft thrusters, portable x-ray imaging systems, impulse radar systems, and corona-discharge systems for sterilizing...

Electrostatic dust- collection systems that comprise wire grids connected to lightweight, low-power high-voltage sources have been invented for preventing the accumulation of dust on surfaces. Intended originally for use in keeping spacecraft solar panels free of dust, these systems could also be used on...

Electrochemical cells in which molten carbonates would serve as electrolytes have been proposed for use in electrolyzing CO2. The proposal was made in an effort to implement a concept of in situ resource utilization (ISRU) for the exploration of Mars; the basic idea is to generate CO (if needed as...

Johnson Space Center has been leading the development of a high-power, electrothermal plasma rocket — the variable- specific-impulse magnetoplasma rocket (VASIMR) — that is capable of exhaust modulation at constant power. An electrodeless design enables the rocket to operate at power densities much...

An improved method of plasma chemical-vapor deposition (CVD) of a thin film of boron carbide has been devised. Boron carbide is useful because it is hard, is electrically insulating, withstands high temperature, and resists chemical attack. Plasma CVD of boron carbide involves the thermal...

High-speed complex-amplitude spatial light modulators (SLMs) containing liquid crystals with pixel electronic circuitry on single-crystal-silicon backplanes are undergoing development. The basic approach taken in this project is to use fast-switching liquid-crystal materials and modulation-enhancing...

An integrated optical voltage-measuring apparatus based on a Mach-Zehnder interferometer has been designed and constructed. The main feature of this apparatus is that optical fibers link part of it to an optical sensor head placed at the source of the voltage to be measured, whether the source be a...