Tunable Nanoscale UltraViolet Absorer Particle Technology

Physical Sciences, Inc. (PSI) has developed a nanoparticle chaff that yields an ultraviolet (UV) light absorbing cloud upon dissemination from a center burster cartridge. During the Phase I program we utilized UV extinction data, Mie Scattering calculations and cloud radiance models to optimize both the chemistry and particle size for the UV absorbing material. We have demonstrated chaff cloud formation using both a Capco pyrotechnic burster and a PSI designed and built burster that uses compressed CO2 driven dissemination. The Capco pyrotechnic and PSI CO2 gas driven bursters yielded clouds of comparable area during field testing. During the Phase I Option and Phase II Base efforts, PSI will utilize hydrocode simulation to design and optimize the burst performance of the CO2 driven chaff cartridge. We will build and test a series of prototype cartridges, deliver 3 lots of five cartridges to NSWC/Crane over the course of the base program and deliver 75 devices to NSWC/Crane at the end of the Phase II Base program. At the end of the Phase II Option program, PSI will deliver 240 devices to NSWC/Crane for testing. These burster payload cartridges will be designed to integrate with the AN/ALE-39 and AN/ALE-47 Countermeasure Dispensing Sets (CMDS).