Seismic Detection, Miniaturized Seismometers

The Department of Energy seeks revolutionary innovations with respect to miniature seismic sensors for the monitoring of nuclear detonations. Specifically, the performance must be comparable to that obtainable by only an elite few products available today, but with orders of magnitude reduction in size, weight, power, and cost. This project will develop the desired sensors, based upon several advanced fabrication methods and read¬out technologies, including silicon micro-fabrication, advanced meso¬scale fabrication and assembly, and the use of advanced photonics¬-based displacement/motion detection methods. The resulting product will be roughly the size of a small game die. Commercial Applications and other Benefits as described by the awardee: In addition to the national security needs of the DOE, the sensors should impact such market sectors as military/defense, scientific instrumentation, oil and gas exploration, and inertial navigation.