Chp. 3: NASA Ames Work on Nanotechnology

NASA Ames Work on Nanotechnology
Meyya Meyyappan
NASA Ames Research Center
Space Technology Division
meyya@orbit.arc.nasa.gov

NASA Interests
- Petaflop computing -- electronics components
- High performance computers (lightweight and low power consumption)
- Efficient H₂ fuel storage and transport
In-house work: Initiated FY97
- Computational modeling
- Physics of sub-0.5 (m devices, quantum semiconductor devices, optoelectronics devices
- Carbon nanotube-based devices

Laser Powered Rotations of Nanotube Gears

Non-linear Equations of Rotational Motion:

Intrinsic Frequency:

22nd Feb., 1997, D. Srivastava

Rotations of a Nanotube Gear with 130 GHz cw Laser

Stable unidirectional rotations up to nanosecond durations
Angular momentum of the driven gear stabilizes the rotations against thermal fluctuations
22nd Feb., 1997, D. Srivastava

Rotations of a Gear with 130 GHz Pulsed Laser

Phase matched switching on/off of a square pulse does not affect the rotational performance of the gear.
In fact, it improves the performance!
22nd Feb., 1997, D. Srivastava

Structural Stability: Our Quantum Chemistry Study

Carbon Nanotube Electronic Devices

Jie Han (NAS) and Richard Jaffe (STC)

Published: January 1998; WTEC Hyper-Librarian