Sandia_Natl_Labs_FY19_LDRD_Annual_SAND2020-3752 R_2_S

FY19 ANNUAL REPORT

Metamaterials science and technology Grand Challenge (GC) project. Multiscale Inverse Rapid Group-theory for Engineered-metamaterials (MIRaGE) software started under the Metamaterials Science and Technology GC (FY09-11), continued development under a DARPA contract, and just received a 2019 R&D 100

Award. The software contains functionality not offered in existing packages including: inverse design, symmetry-aided design, a metamaterial design library, increased scalability and speed by a factor of two, uncertainty quantification, and optical properties. MIRaGE enables designers to create, simulate, and optimize metamaterials having suitable optical behaviors through a process that assembles available information for analysis in minutes rather than months or years. This allows for more rapid cycles of learning and assured real-world performance. Applications where tailoring optical properties are important include cloaking/camouflage of assets and compact aberration-free imaging systems such as a miniaturized Hubble Space Telescope.

Metamaterial fielded on a 2019 Hot Shot flight. The material is designed to mitigate flight shock and vibration.

Microsystems-enabled photovoltaics. Microsystems-enabled photovoltaics provide a pathway to a solar power system that is cost-competitive with grid power. Flexible photovoltaic technology provides unique energy-harvesting capabilities anywhere there is light and promises 10x improvement in watts/kg over current flexible photovoltaic technologies. A Sandia employee is currently on entrepreneurial leave to commercialize the DragonSCALEs TM solar cell technology in the aerospace market. A total of $2.5M was raised to accomplish this. In December 2019, a $1.1M small business research grant was awarded by the Army Combat Capabilities Development Command Center. The funding will be used to further develop and test solar modules for portable power in remote locations, potentially opening up military markets and commercial sales for outdoor applications. DragonSCALEs has its origins in the Microsystems-Enabled Photovoltaics Grand Challenge that ended in FY14.

Providing high-quality intelligence of world events. A nanoantenna, which has its origins in ttwo Grand Challenges including Smart Sensors (FY16-FY18) and Metamaterials (FY10-FY12), received a 2019 R&D 100 Award. The work took a concept from infancy and developed the world’s first functioning long wave detector that is ready for commercialization. The high-performance nanoantenna-enabled focal plane array detector helps detectors see more than 50% of incident Infrared radiation (current technology can only see 25%). The nanoantenna architecture makes it possible to break through the background noise wall that traditional focal plan array technologies can’t move beyond. The technology is on a path to improving detection of noncompliance relating to foreign programs.

A fabricated nanoantenna-enabled detector array images a warm coffee cup heating a cooled Sandia Thunderbird logo. Nanoantennae can catalyze enhancements in the spectral and noise performance of infrared detectors. This promising new capability is being transformed from theory to reality by Sandia’s efforts in the design, fabrication, and characterization of this emerging sensor architecture.

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LABORATORY DIRECTED RESEARCH & DEVELOPMENT

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