Electron Transpiration Cooling of Hypersonic Vehicles. Future aircraft for flight at hypersonic speeds require sharp leading edges for the best aerodynamic performance. Sharp leading edges incur high heat loads and cannot be adequately cooled with current technologies. The project aim is to investigate novel surface materials that emit electrons when heated. This emission of electrons from the surface can significantly contribute to the cooling of the sharp leading edges. This project is expecte ....Electron Transpiration Cooling of Hypersonic Vehicles. Future aircraft for flight at hypersonic speeds require sharp leading edges for the best aerodynamic performance. Sharp leading edges incur high heat loads and cannot be adequately cooled with current technologies. The project aim is to investigate novel surface materials that emit electrons when heated. This emission of electrons from the surface can significantly contribute to the cooling of the sharp leading edges. This project is expected to deliver new experimental data on novel surface materials exposed to a hypersonic flow environment and computer models that can simulate their cooling effect. This investigation will contribute towards enabling technologies for sustained hypersonic flight by overcoming critical head load limitations.Read moreRead less
Understanding molecular negative ion production for use in pathology. The project aims to increase the yield of molecular negative ion sources by improving our understanding of the formation of ion beams from plasma sources and expand our knowledge of molecular negative ion generation in plasma environments leading to brighter ion beams. For example, understanding cancer requires cellular level tools to map how cells are changing. These maps are made using ion beams which are scanned across cell ....Understanding molecular negative ion production for use in pathology. The project aims to increase the yield of molecular negative ion sources by improving our understanding of the formation of ion beams from plasma sources and expand our knowledge of molecular negative ion generation in plasma environments leading to brighter ion beams. For example, understanding cancer requires cellular level tools to map how cells are changing. These maps are made using ion beams which are scanned across cells to remove material that is analysed at the atomic and molecular level. Ion beams are produced from plasma sources, but much of their operation is not understood. Such improved ion beams are expected to enable inexpensive and fast cellular level pathology at even small hospitals to tackle cancer for society’s benefit.Read moreRead less
Thermodynamics inversion for mineral systems. This project aims to provide a newly developed science approach to the Australian Lithospheric Architecture Magnetotelluric Project (AusLAMP). AusLAMP provides unparalleled geophysical information aimed at unravelling the tectonic history of the Australian continent and its mineral potential. The project will use thermodynamically based geodynamic simulators to jointly analyse and quantify intraplate deformation. This will illuminate the cause of dri ....Thermodynamics inversion for mineral systems. This project aims to provide a newly developed science approach to the Australian Lithospheric Architecture Magnetotelluric Project (AusLAMP). AusLAMP provides unparalleled geophysical information aimed at unravelling the tectonic history of the Australian continent and its mineral potential. The project will use thermodynamically based geodynamic simulators to jointly analyse and quantify intraplate deformation. This will illuminate the cause of driving fluid flow thorough the lithosphere, mineralisation phenomena, their datasets and geometries, and dynamic aspects of the processes driving mineral systems.Read moreRead less
Thermal transport in multi-phase flows for concentrating solar applications. This project seeks to advance the field of heat transfer in high-temperature systems involving liquid metals, with emphasis on energy storage and solar power technologies. The concept couples a tubular sodium boiler with a sodium chloride phase-change storage system for continuous energy supply. Sodium chloride is low cost and has a melting temperature suitable for a wide range of industrial processes. The project plans ....Thermal transport in multi-phase flows for concentrating solar applications. This project seeks to advance the field of heat transfer in high-temperature systems involving liquid metals, with emphasis on energy storage and solar power technologies. The concept couples a tubular sodium boiler with a sodium chloride phase-change storage system for continuous energy supply. Sodium chloride is low cost and has a melting temperature suitable for a wide range of industrial processes. The project plans to address the challenge of sodium stability in highly irradiated tubes by investigating mass, momentum, energy and radiative transport in liquid metals. It is intended that this will inform the design and testing of novel sodium boilers to provide stable and isothermal process heat for continuous or on-demand production of power, chemical fuels and commodities.Read moreRead less
A Quantum Matterwave Vortex Gyroscope for Ultrastable Rotation Sensing. This project aims to investigate the basic science underpinning a new rotation sensing technology based on matterwave vortices. Current gyroscopes are susceptible to long-term calibration drifts, which limit their applicability on long timescales where re-calibration is not practical or possible. This project expects to build a matterwave vortex gyroscope and demonstrate that it offers unparalleled long-term stability over ` ....A Quantum Matterwave Vortex Gyroscope for Ultrastable Rotation Sensing. This project aims to investigate the basic science underpinning a new rotation sensing technology based on matterwave vortices. Current gyroscopes are susceptible to long-term calibration drifts, which limit their applicability on long timescales where re-calibration is not practical or possible. This project expects to build a matterwave vortex gyroscope and demonstrate that it offers unparalleled long-term stability over `classical’ gyroscopes based on mechanical and/or optical technology. This could deliver new navigation capabilities, benefitting Australia’s defence forces and nascent space technology industry, as well as enabling slow timescale precision gravimetry for mineral exploration, hydrology, and geology. Read moreRead less
Terahertz lasers in the fight against illicit substances. This project aims to investigate the application of cutting-edge terahertz laser technology with new spectroscopic methods, for detection of illicit substances. Using a collaborative approach, the project aims to bring together expertise in laser physics, spectroscopy, law enforcement and instrumentation, and seeks to develop new sources and detection protocols which will offer new capabilities to law enforcement, aiding in detection and ....Terahertz lasers in the fight against illicit substances. This project aims to investigate the application of cutting-edge terahertz laser technology with new spectroscopic methods, for detection of illicit substances. Using a collaborative approach, the project aims to bring together expertise in laser physics, spectroscopy, law enforcement and instrumentation, and seeks to develop new sources and detection protocols which will offer new capabilities to law enforcement, aiding in detection and identification protocols for illicit substances.Read moreRead less
Removing the blur: Guidestar lasers for the space industry . The speed and quality of transferring information between earth and space can be greatly enhanced by adaptive optical systems that provide correction for atmospheric aberrations. The laser-generated guidestars that lie at the heart of these systems must be bright, preferably multi-coloured and with low background. By taking advantage of the unique optical properties of diamond, this project aims to develop lasers that produce these adv ....Removing the blur: Guidestar lasers for the space industry . The speed and quality of transferring information between earth and space can be greatly enhanced by adaptive optical systems that provide correction for atmospheric aberrations. The laser-generated guidestars that lie at the heart of these systems must be bright, preferably multi-coloured and with low background. By taking advantage of the unique optical properties of diamond, this project aims to develop lasers that produce these advanced features to fulfil the needs of the space industry sector. These outcomes are expected to create new services and products in the areas of space situational awareness, space debris management and satellite communications, and have major spin-off benefits to astronomy and defence.Read moreRead less
High-brightness wavelength tuneable lasers for quantum science. This project aims to establish the capability to manufacture application-specific semiconductor lasers. The project will use existing facilities in Australia to enhance our world-leading quantum science research, and establish a viable export-dominated high-tech manufacturing business. Semiconductor lasers are a critical enabling technology for many scientific applications, particularly for quantum science including quantum computin ....High-brightness wavelength tuneable lasers for quantum science. This project aims to establish the capability to manufacture application-specific semiconductor lasers. The project will use existing facilities in Australia to enhance our world-leading quantum science research, and establish a viable export-dominated high-tech manufacturing business. Semiconductor lasers are a critical enabling technology for many scientific applications, particularly for quantum science including quantum computing and quantum sensing. This project is expected to enable the establishment of a high-tech manufacturing capability to support Australia's leading role in quantum science, and expand our scientific instrumentation exports to new and rapidly developing applications such as magnetic sensing and imaging at nanoscale, quantum communication and computation.Read moreRead less
Electrical contact engineering for next generation semiconductor devices. Contact resistivity and parasitic resistance have been identified as limiting factors in the performance of next-generation semiconductor devices. This project aims to understand these limitations and to develop methods to mitigate them through the application of advanced ion implantation processing. Specifically, this will involve: investigating the effect of selective doping on electrical properties of metal-semiconducto ....Electrical contact engineering for next generation semiconductor devices. Contact resistivity and parasitic resistance have been identified as limiting factors in the performance of next-generation semiconductor devices. This project aims to understand these limitations and to develop methods to mitigate them through the application of advanced ion implantation processing. Specifically, this will involve: investigating the effect of selective doping on electrical properties of metal-semiconductor interfaces; determining how ultra-shallow dopant profiles are affected by device structure and processing; and developing improved methods for measuring ultra-low contact resistivity. The research will be undertaken as a collaboration between researchers at the Australian National University and Applied Materials Ltd.Read moreRead less
Building resilient alpine environments with less snow. In this project, we aim to build resilience into alpine National Parks and Alpine Resorts to counter the effects of ongoing declines in snow. Alpine environments depend on snow to regulate water flows, insulate vegetation, control soil erosion and promote proper ecosystem functioning. How these processes will operate in a snow-free future is unknown. We will determine how and where snow characteristics drive soil water availability for plant ....Building resilient alpine environments with less snow. In this project, we aim to build resilience into alpine National Parks and Alpine Resorts to counter the effects of ongoing declines in snow. Alpine environments depend on snow to regulate water flows, insulate vegetation, control soil erosion and promote proper ecosystem functioning. How these processes will operate in a snow-free future is unknown. We will determine how and where snow characteristics drive soil water availability for plants and which plant species have the best adaptation and regeneration potential under extreme conditions such as heat, frost and drought. Benefits of the project include innovative land management and rehabilitation solutions, to safeguard Australia's alpine areas under changing environmental conditions.Read moreRead less