ENP Laboratories
In addition to department offices and classrooms, ENP utilizes laboratories in Buildings 640, 644, 145, 5, and 470.
Building 640
The laboratories in Building 640 consist primarily of instructional laboratories, as well as research facilities dedicated to semiconductor characterization, photoluminescence excitation and emission, and image-based bi-directional reflectance distribution functions. Building 640 also houses a modeling and simulation facility devoted to research analysis of naturally occurring electrically charged gases (also known as geoplasmas) in the outer reaches of the Earth's atmosphere. Research in this field is of growing concern to military operations.
Building 644
Building 644 is a 29,914 gross square foot engineering research laboratory. We operate 19 laboratories within this facility to support faculty and student research at the MS and PhD levels in laser spectroscopy, optics, solid state physics, materials characterization, nuclear radiation detection, nuclear effects, and environmental engineering. The instructional laboratories complement courses of study in engineering physics, optical observables, nuclear radiation detection and instrumentation, nuclear and environmental engineering, space weather, optics, and lasers and optical diagnostics. Equipment is continually updated to remain abreast of the state-of-the-art in engineering physics, optical engineering, space weather, materials science, and nuclear engineering. There also exists a suite of three environmental science laboratories that provide research in remediation technologies, environmental sampling, remote sensing, and microbiology in support of the department's research in nuclear proliferation and combating weapons of mass destruction.
Building 644 contains a clean room suite (class 1000) that enables the fabrication of microelectromechanical systems (MEMS) and micro-and opto-electronic devices, and integrated systems. The Clean Room supports basic research on advanced electronic and photonic materials. Coupled with the Clean Room is the Electronic Devices and Materials (Microelectronics) Laboratory, which contains an array of integrated circuit fabrication equipment and diagnostic instrumentation. The fabrication facilities encompass complete photolithography, mask printing, thermal oxidation, dopant diffusion, and metallization capabilities. The diagnostic facilities include a sub-micron probe station, scanning electron microscope, atomic force microscope, cathodoluminescence, profilometer, and probe station.
Building 470
Building 470, located apart from the AFIT complex, houses teaching and research laboratories that support our nuclear engineering program. These laboratories have up to date equipment for detecting and measuring sources of alpha, beta, gamma, and neutron radiation, and these capabilities are updated constantly. Areas of focus include neutron and gamma-ray spectroscopy, gamma imaging, positron annihilation spectroscopy, detection of nuclear fuels in trace quantities, and studies of radiation effects on materials and electronics. Data acquisition and analysis are carried out with a network of high-end PCs, complete with multi-channel analyzer software interfaced to computer-controlled nuclear electronics components. This system provides advanced data acquisition and data sharing between measurement stations. A radiochemistry laboratory and radio- nuclide storage facility support these laboratories. In addition, environmental measurement tools for laboratory and field characterization of pollutants are being enhanced, excellent equipment for nuclear analytical measurements is available, and a complete range of semiconductor characterization tools are available for studies of radiation effects on electronics.
Building 145
Building 145 provides over 3000 square feet of testing space for remote sensing and directed energy atmospheric effects quantification equipment and is occupied by the Center for Directed Energy (CDE) and the Center for Technical Intelligence and Research (CTISR). Over the last decade, CDE has built up a one-of-a-kind surface layer atmospheric research capability at the AFIT campus and other locations on WPAFB. The instrumentation suites and equipment include a NOAA Federated Aerosol Network (NFAN) site and Conex facility, an AERONET solar/lunar photometer site, SODAR/RASS instrumentation, a Micropulse Lidar system, a vast array of MAGIC condensation (nano-) particle counters, sonic anemometers, optical differential temperature probes, soil characterization and ground heat flux sensors, MZA DELTA and PROPS imaging and optical turbulence measurement apparatus, and a DAS-4 Multispectral Targeting System (MTS) adapted for surface layer atmospheric research. CTISR manages the laboratory in room 16 of building 145. This laboratory is predominately used to explore various topics associated with the remote detection of signatures leveraging a variety of hyperspectral, multispectral, and non-imaging spectrometers across the entire optical regime of radiation. The facility is also used as a staging area for numerous remote field tests where the organization will deploy instruments to collect data on a wide variety of high interest DoD systems.
Building 5
Building 5 contains a 1250 sq foot ultra-short laser laboratory co-located with laboratories under the management of the AFRL’s Propulsion Directorate. The laboratory contains several lasers which are used to explore the fundamental nature of laser matter interactions and is supported by a multi-university collaboration which includes Ohio State University, Marietta University, and Miami University. The primary thrust effort in the facility centers on the development of the first high-repetition rate production of microscale laser induced nuclear fusion reactions. The output of this system includes high energy electrons, protons, x-rays, and now neutrons and represents one of the first combined space radiation environments. One of the primary goals for this effort is to provide a facility capable of generating an accurate space radiation environment for radiation effects testing on space certified electronics. Additionally, other efforts are also supported included work in laser damage on materials, laser triggered radiofrequency superconductor emission, application of machine learning to design of experiments, and additional topics related to the fundamental nature of laser matter interaction. All these efforts are supported by a robust modeling and simulation capability which leverages both the Ohio State Supercomputing Center and the DoD High Performance Computing infrastructure.
