Physical Sciences

The sixth annual National Nanoengineering Conference returns to Boston this year on November 12-13 at the Boston Colonnade Hotel, featuring the fourth annual Nano 50 Awards, recognizing top 50 technologies, innovators, and products that have significantly impacted the development of nanotechnology. This year's...

Researchers at the University of Michigan, U.S. Naval Research Laboratory, and the University of California at San Diego recently demonstrated the fastest quantum computer bit that exploits the main advantage of the qubit over the conventional bit. The scientists used lasers to create an initialized quantum state of this...

NASA's Hubble Space Telescope has found an answer to a long-standing puzzle by resolving giant but delicate filaments shaped by a strong magnetic field around the active galaxy NGC 1275. One of the closest giant elliptical galaxies, NGC 1275 hosts a supermassive black hole. Energetic activity of gas swirling near the black...

An improved sensor assembly has been developed for astronomical imaging at photon energies ranging from 1 to 100 keV. The assembly includes a thallium-doped cesium iodide scintillator divided into pixels and coupled to an array of high-gain avalanche photodiodes (APDs). Optionally, the...

A document presents updated information on implementation of the wireless acoustic-electric feed-through (WAEF) concept, which was reported in "Using Piezoelectric Devices To Transmit Power Through Walls" (NPO-41157), NASA Tech Briefs, Vol. 32, No. 6 (June 2008), page 70. To recapitulate: In...

The system is a single hyperspectral imaging instrument that has the unique capability to acquire both fluorescence and reflectance high-spatial-resolution data that is inherently spatially and spectrally registered. Potential uses of this instrument include plant stress monitoring,...

Resonators usually are characterized with two partially dependent values: finesse (ℱ) and quality factor (Q). The finesse of an empty Fabry-Perot (FP) resonator is defined solely by the quality of its mirrors and is calculated asℱ = πR1/2/(1 – R).

A compact sensor for measuring temperature and pressure in a combustion chamber has been proposed. Heretofore, independent measurements of high pressures and temperatures in combustion chambers have not been performed. In the original intended application, the combustion chamber would be...

One aspect of the topic of "Compact, Highly Stable Ion Clock" (NPO-43075), NASA Tech Briefs, Vol. 32, No. 5 (May 2008), page 63, is examined in more detail. To recapitulate: A developmental miniature mercury-ion clock has stability comparable to that of a hydrogen-maser clock. The ion-handling components...

Feasibility of a non-invasive compensation scheme was analyzed for precise positioning of a massive extended body in free fall using gravitational forces influenced by surrounding source masses in close proximity. The N-body problem of classical mechanics is a paradigm used...

A document discusses the use of ultraviolet spectroscopy and imaging for the non-destructive evaluation of the degree of cure, aging, and other properties of resin-based composite materials. This method can be used in air, and is portable for field use. This method operates in...