July/August_AMP_Digital

1 0 A D V A N C E D M A T E R I A L S & P R O C E S S E S | J U L Y / A U G U S T 2 0 2 0 entists develop ultrafast photonic de- vices such as fast photodetectors, pho- tonic switches, and semiconductor pho- tocathodes that have applications in a wide range of fields. The research proj- ect was funded in part by two National Science Foundation grants. uah.edu . FASTER IMAGING PROCESS Testing at Sandia National Lab- oratories, Albuquerque, N.M., verified that a patented imaging process from Albuquerque-based Advanced Optical Technologies reduces time spent on characterization from hours to minutes. The Crystallographic Polarization-Clas- sification Imaging (CPCI) process has applications in the aerospace, auto- motive, energy, and medical industries and for 3D printing. Due, in part, to the results of Sandia’s study, the company TESTING | CHARACTERIZATION ULTRAFAST SPECTROMETER A team of researchers at The University of Alabama in Huntsville achieved a new understanding of gal- lium arsenide (GaAs) after developing a unique spectrometer to study ultrafast properties of photonic materials and devices. The scientists’ goal was to reach a time resolution of less than 10 femtosecond (fs), where 1 fs is one- millionth of a nanosec- ond. The simple and compact spectrometer, which the researchers describe as a few-cycle pump-probe reflectom- eter, or few-cycle PPR, can deliver 8 fs pulses on a sample with spec- tral coverage of 300 nanometers. The researchers used the spectrometer to study proper- ties of GaAs, a common photonic mate- rial widely used in LEDs, semiconductor lasers, and photosensors. As one of the most important pho- tonic materials, GaAs has been thoroughly studied for over a half century. Understand- ing the time evolution of wavelength depen- dence can inform re- searchers about how photoelectrons momen- tarily change the prop- erties of GaAs—band filling and band gap renormalization are two well-known effects. Identifying the de- tails of photoelectron behaviors in photonic materials can help sci- Lingze Duan (left) and Hemang Jani of the University of Alabama in Huntsville work on the few-cycle PPR setup. Courtesy of Michael Mercier/UAH. IMR Test Labs, Louisville, Ky., earned accreditation from Pratt & Whitney Group as a materials test- ing lab. imrtest.com. BRIEFS Analysis and Measurement Ser- vices Corporation (AMS), Knox- ville, Tenn., a nuclear technology consulting firm, was awarded a Nuclear Energy voucher under the Gateway for Accelerated Innova- tion in Nuclear (GAIN) initiative for their proposal, “Testing of Instru- mentation and Control (I&C) Sen- sors and Cables for Small Module Reactors (SMRs).” DOE established GAIN to provide the nuclear community with the technical, regulatory, and financial support necessary to move innovative nu- clear energy technologies toward commercialization, while ensuring the continued safe, reliable, and economic operation of the exist- ing nuclear fleet. ams-corp.com . Representatives from the Sandia National Laboratories, the Advanced Optical Technologies, and the NewMexico Small Business Assistance Program team up to develop a newmetals characterization technique. Courtesy of Randy Montoya.