Coupling Aerodynamics, Thermal, and Structural Analysis Methods for High Performance Airframes

Not Available Recently, optical fibers have gained a lot of popularity due to their performance advantages in commercial applications. Fiber optic technology is employed extensively for an ever increasing array of commercial and military signal transmission, communications and control applications. However optimum use of these fibers in these applications requires coating of these fibers with thin layers of various electronic materials such as semiconductors, insulators, metals and compounds. We propose to develop an innovative thin film fabrication deposition technology for coating advanced high technology electronic materials on optical fibers. We will use a unique high throughput, in-line manufacturing system (recently developed for wear resistant diamond like carbon coating on bare optical fibers) for this development. We will study the microstructure and nanostructure of various electronic materials deposited on optical fibers to analyze the effect of curved substrate on the film quality and its electronic properties. We will demonstrate this technology by fabricating a very sensitive optical fiber magnetic sensor. The proposing team, consisting of UHV Technologies, Drexel University and Sarnoff Corporation possesses unique capabilities to undertake this project