ULTRAFAST PASSIVE SHIELDS FOR LASERS AND BALLISTIC PROTECTION BASED ON SEMICONDUCTOR/CONDUCTING POLYMER INTERFACES

A NOVEL TECHNOLOGY FOR PASSIVE, SWITCHABLE (DYNAMIC), BROAD-BAND (VIS. -NIR), ULTRAFAST (SUB-NS) LASER SHIELDS IS OFFERED, BASED ON INTERFACING INORGANIC SEMICONDUCTOR ELECTRODE TO CONDUCTING POLYMERS. THE CONDUCTING POLYMERS, NORMALLY SWITCHED ELECTROCHEMICALLY BETWEEN OPAQUE AND TRANSPARENT STATES, ARE IN THIS TECHNOLOGY SWITCHED VIA DIRECT CHARGE TRANSFER FROM ULTRAFAST LASER PHOTOEXCITATION OF THE SEMICONDUCTOR ELECTRODES; THE LATTER THUS PROVIDE BOTH THE TRIGGER AND THE ENERGY FOR THE POLYMER SWITCHING. PRELIMINARY PULSED LASER DATA FOR SWITCHING OF SEMICONDUCTOR/CONDUCTING POLYMER INTERFACES, COLLECTED AT THE STATE-OF-THE-ART PS-REGIME LASER FACILITIES OF THE REGIONAL LASER AND BIOTECHNOLOGY LABORATORIES (RLBL), U. OF PA, PHILADELPHIA, SHOW SUB-NS RISETIMES AND FALLTIMES IN THE TENS OF NS, WITH LARGE OD CHANGES (DATA INCLUDED HEREIN). EXTENSIVE PRIOR EXPERIENCE AT GUMBS SPECIFICALLY IN THE DEVELOPMENT OF LASER SHIELDS, A CLOSE, TWO-YEAR COLLABORATION WITH RLBL, AND PRIOR WORK IN THE DEVELOPMENT OF NOVEL CONDUCTING POLYMERS THAT ARE SOLUBLE AND PROCESSIBLE SUPPORTS THE PROPOSED WORK. THE ADAPTATION OF THE SC/CP INTERFACES FOR BALLISTIC PROTECTION IS ALSO DESCRIBED.