NEW MATERIALS DEVELOPED BY QUANTEX IN 1985 SHOW GREATLY IMPROVED PROPERTIES FOR APPLICATION TO OPTICAL COMPUTERS.

NEW MATERIALS DEVELOPED BY QUANTEX IN 1985 SHOW GREATLY IMPROVED PROPERTIES FOR APPLICATION TO OPTICAL COMPUTERS. A CLASS OF ELECTRON TRAPPING (ET) MATERIALS HAS BEEN GENERATED WHICH, UPON TRAP-CHARGING WITH VISIBLE LIGHT, MAINTAINS FILLED TRAPS INDEFINITELY. NEAR-INFRARED LIGHT (800 NM TO 1200 NM) TRIGGERS TRAPPED ELECTRON RELEASE, RESULTING IN EMITTED VISIBLE LIGHT. SUCH OPERATION APPEARS IMPERVIOUS TO EMP, STRUCTURAL DAMAGE EFFECTS SEEM MINIMAL AND POSSIBLE TRANSIENT RADIATION EFFECTS ARE ALSO MINIMAL. IT IS PROPOSED TO FABRICATE ET OPTICAL MEMORY (ETOM) STRUCTURES WITH READ-WRITE-ERASE AS A VEHICLE TO EVALUATE THE RADIATION HARDNESS OF THESE MATERIALS FOR OPTICAL COMPUTERS. MEASUREMENTS OF DATA STATUS, RESPONSE MAGNITUDES, RESPONSE TIMES AND TEMPERATURE DEPENDENCES WILL BE MADE BEFORE AND AFTER RADIATION DOSES DESIGNED FOR TRANSIENT IONIZATION, DISPLACEMENT DAMAGE AND EMP EFFECTS. IN THIS WAY, THE HARDNESS OF THESE NEW ET PHOTONIC MATERIALS WILL BE ASSESSED FOR APPLICATIONS IN VARIOUSTHREAT ENVIRONMENTS.