U.S. Army Research Office (ARO) programs and highlights may be summarized as follows:

• ARO was established in 1951 on the Duke University campus and has remained in the Research Triangle Park area for forty-six years

• ARO has funded research leading to eight separate Nobel Prizes shared by twelve Nobel Laureates

• Several of these Nobel Prizes were awarded for seminal topics in the field of nanotechnology; these include superlattices and buckminsterfullerene

• Today ARO participates in DOD-wide thrusts on Scientific Research Initiatives (SROs)

SROs of particular relevance to nanotechnology are

• nanoscience

• biomimetics

• smart Structures

• compact power sources

The ARO funding in the areas of nanoscience, biomimetics, and smart structures is about $15 million a year. In addition to that, the OSD funds research centers: the university research initiative centers and the multidisciplinary research initiative centers, the so-called MURI centers.

Army needs in the area of nanotechnology include the following:

• lightweight, strong materials

• smart, adaptive structures

• microdevices for sensing, situational awareness, information processing

• microdevices for telemedicine

The Army is interested in these things for a lot of reasons, for example, to improve situational awareness -- how do you keep the soldiers from being killed? One important factor is for the soldier to know his location, so the Global Positioning System (GPS) is important, microsensors are important, as are chemical and biological detection sensors; many concepts based on unattended ground sensors are key for situational awareness. The idea of miniaturizing power sources is critical. Nanotechnology has a lot to offer there. Higher functionality, smaller mass, and smaller volume are among the advantages ARO seeks from nanotechnology.

• Significant Accomplishments

  • Nobel Prizes
    • Semiconductor Engineering (Esaski)
    • Superconductivity (Bardeen, Cooper, Schrieffer)
    • Ion Traps (Dehmelt)
    • Fullerenes (Smalley)

  • Engineering Feats
    • Electronic Circuit CAD (Dutton)
    • Photonic Band Engineering (Yablonovitch)
    • Atom Laser (Ketterle)

Future military applications

• More functionality per unit weight or volume
  • low-power, efficient, and cheaper electronics
  • faster processors and denser memories
  • design and analysis of new materials and devices

• New functionalities
  • optical, chemical, and biological sensors
  • dramatically improved wargaming, deployment, and logistics
  • IR low observables and optical limiters

• Current Fabrication Techniques
  • Chisel silicon
  • Expensive, ultraclean

• New Fabrication Techniques
  • Build atom-by-atom
  • Self-assembly
  • Low-cost and fast

Self-assembled gold cluster array

Army Nanoscience Investment Unique

• Quantum Mechanics
  • New functionalities

• Nanostructures
  • Build "from the ground up"

• Dynamic nanoanalysis
  • Understand the science

• Engineer the flow of light
  • Control propagation

• Nanofabrication
  • Small (( 0.1 (m) structures
  • Defect and interface engineering
  • Self-assembly of complex structures

• Quantum Mechanical Control
  • Matter as waves
  • Room temperature operation
  • Quantum computing