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International
Joint Optoelectronics
Project Completes Seven Years of Success
If
breaking a mirror brings you seven years of bad fortune, then breaking
research barriers yields the opposite result.
The
National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) has collaborated
on the final report of a pioneering program that gave American and
Japanese researchers unprecedented access to research on advanced
computing technologies that integrate optical, optoelectronic and
electronic components.
The
U.S.-Japan Joint Optoelectronics Project (JOP) has provided a unique
way to foster international cooperation and progress in a competitive
high-technology field while protecting intellectual property in both
countries. It offered, in effect, a virtual laboratory in which advanced
optoelectronic devices and components still in the research and development
stages were made available to systems researchers and designers eager
to develop new technologies.
Since
its inception, the JOP has enjoyed significant technical accomplishments,
resulting in more than 100 research publications, the stimulation
of new research efforts, products, patents and increased trade between
the two countries over a period of about seven years. The JOP encouraged
advanced research by providing access to advanced devices that were
not yet commercially available.
JOP
turned a sensitive issuecompetition between the technology industries
of both countriesinto an activity with substantial benefits.
The project created a remarkable international collaboration, one
in which two traditional rivals in the scientific and engineering
arenas joined to advance a technology valuable to both.
The
research focused on components that serve as a bridge between traditional
electronic computers and those using optical technologies envisioned
for the future. Merging optical and electronic technologies offers
a path toward faster, more versatile computers.
JOP
helped overcome cultural differences between the U.S. and Japanese
research and business communities, and reduced legal barriers, import/export
complexities and paperwork that can slow the pace of international
collaboration.
Besides
business and university participants, five federal agencies were active
in the conduct of the JOP: the National Science Foundation (NSF),
the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), the Department
of Energy, the Department of State and NIST. NISTs Electronics
and Electrical Engineering Laboratory served as the lead technical
agency in the project.
The
success of the JOP has led NSF and DARPA to develop a domestic program,
with prospects for participation by other federal agencies and for
future internationalization, based on JOP principles. Initiation of
the activity, known as the Photonics Technology Access Program (PTAP),
is currently undergoing final approval.
Single
copies of the report are available at no charge from NIST by calling
(301) 975-NIST (6478) or sending an e-mail to inquiries@nist.gov.
For more information on the JOP, go to www.oida.org/JOP;
for more on PTAP, go to www.oida.org/PTAP.
Media
Contact:
Philip
Bulman, (301) 975-5661
Proceedings
New Publication
Documents International Welding Conference
Persons
interested in the use of computer technology in welding will want
to get a copy of the proceedings of the Eleventh International Conference
on Computer Technology in Welding held Dec. 5-6, 2001, in Columbus,
Ohio. The conference was sponsored by the National Institute of Standards
and Technology (NIST), the American Welding Society and the Welding
Institute.
The proceedings
include 32 presentations grouped under the following categories: sensing
and control of gas metal arc welding; sensing and control of gas tungsten
arc welding; sensing and control of variable polarity plasma arc welding;
imaging, fabrication quality and standards; sensing and control systems;
modeling of distortion and stress; predicting microstructures and
performance, and general modeling topics.
The proceedings
contain the keynote talk on progress toward total automation and include
all the manuscripts submitted including viewgraphs.
Copies of the
proceedings in either paper or CD format may be obtained by contacting
Tom Siewert.
Media
Contact:
Fred
McGehan (Boulder), (303) 497-3246
Materials
Science
New Method Can
Speed the Search for High-Tech Films
A new
rapid prototyping technique developed by scientists at the National
Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) could rev up the search
for thin films with properties optimized for next-generation memory
devices and wireless communications gear.
With
the novel methodcalled dual-beam, dual-target, pulsed-laser
depositionNIST researchers can create libraries of inorganic
thin films that vary, predictably, in thickness and chemical composition.
Mass producing samples of films composed of two or more compounds
opens the way to high-throughput screening that can narrow the hunt
for new materials.
NIST
materials scientists Peter Schenck and Debra Kaiser demonstrated their
new technique by creating libraries of barium strontium titanate (BST)
films, a candidate to replace silicon-dioxide insulators in future
dynamic random access memories. Schenck and Kaisers technique
splits a laser beam so that the high-energy light strikes two sets
of starting materials simultaneously.
Both
target materials vaporize, creating gas plumes that mix before depositing
and crystallizing on a silicon wafer nearby. By adjusting the lasers
energy and the spacing between the targets, the researchers can control
both the composition and thickness of the film deposited on the substrate.
For example, the researchers created samples with narrow bands of
uniform thickness, while the relative amounts of barium, strontium
and titanium varied systematically across each band.
Data
gathered automatically after the process are used to map film thickness.
Using a model that they developed, Schenck and Kaiser then can estimate
the chemical composition at hundreds of points in a sample, eliminating
a time-consuming chore. They are now extending the technique to other
combinations of inorganic materials and to even thinner films.
Schenck
and Kaiser report on their system for fabricating libraries of thin
film samples in a forthcoming article in Proceedings of Combi 2002.
For more information, contact Peter
Schenck. A description of the system can be found at www.ceramics.nist.gov/programs/thinfilms/PLD.html.
Media
Contact:
Mark
Bello, (301) 975-3776
Time
and Frequency
New Publication
Highlights Recent NIST Ion Trapping Research
The
ability to trap ions for long periods of time allows researchers to
interrogate these atomic particles and observe changes
in their states. Since ions are nearly motionless during the observation
period, an ion trap can provide the basis for highly stable and accurate
atomic oscillators that could eventually replace todays frequency
standards. The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST)
has been a world leader in the science of ion trapping for years.
Now, the recent
efforts of NISTs Time and Frequency Division in the areas of
ion trapping and laser cooling are showcased in a new publication
that reprints 29 papers published between January 1999 and October
2001. This is the sixth volume of these reprints going back to 1985.
Papers in the
latest edition are grouped by the following categories: frequency
standards and metrology; laser-cooled non-neutral plasmas; quantum
mechanics and quantum metrology; and measurement techniques. They
were published originally in journals such as Science, Nature,
Physics Today, Physical Review Letters and various conference
proceedings. The topics covered range include spectroscopy of trapped
ions, optical clocks, experimental entanglement of four particles,
and visible lasers with sub-hertz linewidths.
Copies of NIST
Technical Note 1524, Trapped Ions and Laser Cooling, VI, edited
by James C. Bergquist, John J. Bollinger, Wayne M. Itano and David
J. Wineland, may be obtained by contacting the Time
and Frequency Division, NIST, MC 847.00, Boulder, Colo. 80305-3328.
Media
Contact:
Fred
McGehan (Boulder), (303) 497-3246
Honors
NIST Researcher
Named One of the Worlds Top Young Innovators
National
Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) physicist Jun Ye has
been chosen as one of the worlds 100 Top Young Innovators (known
as the TR100) by Technology Review, a monthly magazine published
by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). The TR100all
individuals under 35 years of age as of Jan. 1, 2002are researchers,
the magazine states, whose work and ideas will change the world.
The theme for this second series of TR100 awards (the first were given
out in 1999) is transforming existing industries and creating
new ones.
Ye, a fellow of
JILA (a collaborative institute of NIST and the University of Colorado
at Boulder) and an assistant professor of physics at CU-Boulder, was
recognized for work with potential application in nanotechnology,
specifically in the fields of ultrasensitive high-resolution laser
spectroscopy, cold atoms, continuous-wave and ultrafast-pulse laser
stabilization, and optical frequency standards. The magazines
profile of Ye states that he synchronized and phase-tracked
two pulsating beams of different colors so closely that they melded
into one coherent beama feat physicists had thought impossible.
Yes phase-locked pulses can be shaped and shortened when different
lasers are added to the mix.
The award was
presented to Ye at a ceremony at MIT on May 23, 2002.
Media
Contact:
Fred
McGehan (Boulder), (303) 497-3246
Go back to NIST News Page
Editor: Michael E. Newman
Date
created: 5/29/2002
Contact: inquiries@nist.gov
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