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This Defense Intelligence Reference Document, prepared by the Defense Intelligence Agency under its Advanced Aerospace Weapon System Applications (AAWSA) Program and dated 14 December 2009, is a white paper on programmable matter and smart materials. It covers quantum dots, metamaterials, liquid crystals, dynamic windows and spacecraft thermal management, and describes a future space station scenario. It concludes that even partial realization could bring significant gains in spacecraft energy efficiency, safety and mission flexibility.
“The Advance”7 pages
UNCLASSIFIED//5O9 OFFICIO I 1!55 ODIi Y can exert precise control over their optical, electrical, thermal, and magnetic properties rather than simply selecting these properties from the limited catalog nature has provided. Barrier Barrier Figure 2. Quantum Dot. A quantum dot confines electrons 1n a very small volume of space, forcing them to behave as standing waves. Their structure thus resembles the electron clouds or "orbitals" of an atom. Second, it is possible to pump electrons in and out of a quantum dot using electric fields. Thus, instead of a single designer material, it is possible to create a programmable material whose "atoms" can be changed on demand, allowing a bounded but infinite variety of material properties that can be summoned or dismissed at will. --1.:c... Confined , -,. - - - - _o_----,Electron, ' - - Barrier _..,., Harrier ---Quantum <lot pmt1c1c, Figure 3. Programmable Materials. Various structures use electric fields to vary the confinement properties of quantum dots and can be assembled into bulk materials. PHOTONICS AND METAMATERIALS "Sub-wavelength" features are objects implanted on or embedded in a transparent material that are larger than atoms or molecules but smaller than a wavelength of light. They can have significant effects on the optical properties of the material, since they change the way it responds to electric and magnetic fields. However, because they are too small to be "seen" by the photons interacting with them, they do not directly block the passage of light. The result is a transparent material whose optical properties 3 UNCLASSIFIED/ /FOP OFFICIO I I 1S5 ADIi Y
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Report, from the dia collection. The PDF is mirrored here; the original link is above. 20 pages are in the text index: search them above, or from the library's search.