Abstract: A relatively inexpensive, high efficiency, detachable thrust vector mechanism is provided for addressing the current shortcomings in the art. In the illustrative embodiment, the invention is used in conjunction with a nautical or aeronautical vehicle having primary propulsion means and at least one fin movable, to provide maneuverability, in response to a conventional control system. The invention is a detachable thrust vector mechanism comprising auxiliary propulsion means pivotally attached to the missile through connecting means. Contact means are provided for transferring bi-directional motion of the fin to the auxiliary propulsion means. The mechanism is operable to provide auxiliary thrust for the missile along a thrust vector determined by the control system. The invention is effective to provide missile steerage at low speeds, particularly during initial launch and pitchover.

Abstract: An ion propulsion system is disclosed. The invention includes a ionizing system for ionizing a gaseous propellant within a chamber to produce a plasma. The ionizing system includes a cathode 14 to provide a source of electrons and anodes 11 and 13 to accelerate the electrons to velocitites sufficient to ionize the gaseous propellant. The invention further includes an ion extraction system 20 for expelling an ion beam from the plasma. A particularly novel aspect of the invention is the provision of a control system 45 and 46 for modulating the current of the ion beam by modulating the current through the anode 11 and 13.

Abstract: A catalyst material having a catalyst metal supported on a substrate, wherein the substrate has at least two types of surface atomic sites at which the catalyst metal can reside, and the catalyst metal resides primarily in one of those types of sites. In one catalyst material having platinum supported on an aluminum oxide substrate, the platinum atoms are located predominantly in the substrate sites having the lowest activation energy for catalysis of a chemical reaction. Population of only the low energy type of site is achieved by limiting the platinum content to from about 0.25 to about 1.0 atomic percent.

Abstract: A variable phase time delay and signal aggregation ssystem is disclosed. The invention is adapted for use in scanning detection system and serves to maintain spatial resolution on a target surface independent of scan angle. The invention includes means for detecting electromagnetic signals from the surface area. The detector means includes a plurality of detector elements. Each detector element generates a corresponding first plurality of output signals representative of the response of the detector to energy received from the surface area within the field of view of the detector as the detection system scans through a predetermined range. Control means are included for selectively clocking the output signals from the detector elements to phase the relative timing thereof as a function of the scan angle. Means are included to aggregate these signals to generate a combined output signal having the predetermined spatial resolution.

Abstract: A source of clusters of atoms is provided, wherein the clusters are thermally conditioned after their formation so that the clusters are in the liquid state. A beam of clusters is first formed during the mixing of a stream of atoms and a carrier gas. The beam of clusters mixed with carrier gas is passed through a conditioner, preferably including a heated drift tube, to bring the clusters to a temperature whereat the clusters are in a condensed state without crystalline order, comparable to the liquid state. The conditioned cluster beam passes to vacuum, with separation and removal of a large portion of the carrier gas mixed therewith, so that cooling of the clusters in the cluster beam is minimized during their flight to the cluster target.

Abstract: A passive laser Q-switch is fabricated from a crystal which can form saturable color centers, such as lithium fluoride. The arbitrarily long crystal is irradiated with electrons from the side, or radially, to impart a radial distribution of saturable color centers therein, with the highest density at the periphery of the crystal. Optionally, the crystal can also be irradiated axially with electrons or in any direction with another form of radiation having greater penetration into the crystal, such as gamma radiation, to establish a base level of saturable color centers throughout the crystal. The crystal having the radial distribution of color centers acts as a Q-switch, but additionally tends to reduce beam divergence and increase the brightness of the laser beam by virtue of the nonlinear bleaching mechanism.

Abstract: An integrated circuit device consisting of an n-channel selectively doped heterojunction transistor (SDHT) and a p-channel SDHT, in the form of complementary MODFETs fabricated on the same wafer, is disclosed. A method for easily fabricating the complementary p- and n-MODFETs on the same wafer is also disclosed whereby a portion of a partially formed n-channel SDHT is implanted with p-type ions of sufficient dosage to transform the portion into a p-channel SDHT. The device is completed by etching an isolation gap between the n-channel and p-channel region, preferably no more than ten microns wide, and adding ohmic source and drain contacts as well as Schottky gate contacts. Many such MODFET pairs may be fabricated on a single wafer.

Abstract: A method for chemical vapor deposition of materials containing tellurium, such as cadmium telluride and mercury cadmium telluride, wherein the reactant source of the tellurium is a tellurophene or methyltellurol. These reactant sources have high vapor pressures, and the reactant source vapors emitted from the reactant sources have decomposition temperatures of less than about 300.degree. C., so that deposition may be accomplished at low temperatures of about 250.degree. C. The reactant source vapor containing tellurium is mixed with a reactant source vapor containing another substance to be codeposited, such as dimethylcadmium or dimethylmercury, and contacted with a substrate maintained at the deposition temperature, the deposition being preferably accomplished in an inverted vertical chemical vapor deposition reactor.

Abstract: An improved apparatus is disclosed for reliably and unambiguously sensing the angle of arrival of an electromagnetic radiation beam by a remote source. A sensor assembly 2 receives, through an optical window 22, the incident beam which is directed toward first and second detectors 10, 12 by a gradient beam splitter 24. The beam splitter 24 has a gradient of reference and transmittance deposited along one surface which is correlated to the angle of arrival of the radiation. The first detector 10 and second detector 12 receive a portion of the incident beam energy by reflection and transmission respectively from the beamsplitter 24. The ratio of a difference to a sum of the detector responses to the received energy is thereby also correlated with the angle of arrival.

Abstract: An angular scan drive system is disclosed which permits the range of motion of a scanning mechanism to be selectively extended. The invention includes a mass (typically the scanning assembly) which is pivotally attached to a frame to scan in an oscillatory motion during a normal course of operation. A spring is included for applying a restoring force between the frame and the mass and, in accordance with the teachings of the invention, a mechanism is included for selectively coupling and decoupling the mass and the frame through the spring. In a particular embodiment, for example, the mechanism decouples the spring from the frame and attaches the free (frame) end of the spring to the mass on command during a specified portion of the scan cycle. Thus, both ends of the spring are attached to the mass thereby removing the restoring force of the spring from the assembly.

Abstract: A termination (20, 32) is placed in the opposing wall behind the center radiator (18c, 28c) of a multiple slot antenna array. The termination is inoperative when the array is excited for sum mode radiation patterns and is operative when the array is excited with difference mode radiation patterns. When the terminatrion is inoperative, the center slot radiator is excited along with the remaining slot radiators (18, 28) to produce the sum pattern. When the termination is operative, the center slot radiator is prevented from receiving excitation and a resultant difference pattern is produced by the remaining slot radiators (18, 28). Both E-plane and H-plane patterns can be achieved by the appropriate use of series slots and shunt slots. By eliminating the center slot (18c, 28c) in the difference pattern a reduction in side lobes results. This is an improvment over current practice where there are an even number of slots and no change of amplitude distribution--only a change of 180.degree.

Abstract: A warmshield reflector for a cryogenically cooled radiation detector has a reflective surface of toroidal shape. The surface has geometric properties which cause a ray emanating from the detector to be reflected such that a ray is imaged as a defocused ring outside of and surrounding the active detector area. Several such segments are located in front of a small, cryogenically cooled detector shield, to provide an overall detector shielding effect similar to that of a larger, cryogenically cooled shield.

Abstract: A method of fabricating CMOS circuit devices on an insulator substrate is disclosed in which a solid phase epitaxy process is applied to islands for the individual devices in the same step as the channel dopant implants. An ion species, preferably silicon for a silicon island, is implanted into each island at an energy and dosage sufficient to amorphize a buried layer of the island in the vicinity of an underlying insulated substrate; silicon-on-sapphire (SOS) is preferably employed. The buried layers are then recrystallized, using the unamorphized portions of the semiconducotr islands as crystallization seeds. Islands of generally uniform, high quality semiconductor material are thus obtained which utilize dopant implants more efficiently, and avoid prior parasitic transistors and leakage currents.

Abstract: A structural pivot 10 includes a first end cap 18 and a second end cap 20 which are connected together by an elastic member 22 in the form of a cruciform. The structural pivot 10 does not exhibit a geometric center shift when one of the end caps is angularly deflected.

Abstract: A method and apparatus are disclosed for providing a laser beam that is automatically aligned with a substantially rigid, stabilized platform or frame that can be oriented over a wide angular range, such as by the gimbals of a laser pointing and tracking system. A single-transverse-mode master laser oscillator 12 is mounted on the stabilized platform 13 which is part of the inner gimbal, which can be rotated about an elevation axis 16, and a multipass laser amplifier 21 wiht a phase conjugation mirror 22 and an optional nonlinear frequency-conversion device 20 are located off the inner gimbal. An outer gimbal or pedestal mount permits rotation about an azimuthal axis 17. The laser oscillator 12 and laser amplifier 21 are coupled by means of a beamsplitter 15 and two reflecting elements 18 and 19. The laser media used for the oscillator 12 and amplifier 21 are either the same, or compatible media having the same wavelength.

Abstract: An improved laser rangefinder and thermal imager with enhanced scanning mirror control is disclosed. Optical axes (11,12) are aligned parallel to each other. The system includes only one common thermal image/laser reception channel (8,9,10,11). The angular movement of scanning mirror 8 is compensated during the range finding operation. Synchronizing means (1,2,3,4) located in the beam path controls the movement of the scanning mirror. An improved method for controlling the movement of the scanning mirror which enhances the measuring range of the device is also disclosed. In order to receive CO.sub.2 radiation of narrow bandwidth which is reflected from a target, the cyclical movement of the scanning mirror (8) is precisely controlled in order to position it favorably during the range measuring operation. The frequency of the scanning function is retarded so that the scanning mirror (8) is moved only through a fraction of the width of the image field.

Abstract: A compact and efficient two direction of arrival system which is responsive over a large incident solid angle. The system is operative to use relatively few detectors, simple and inexpensive optics in a small assembly, and a very wide field coverage.

Abstract: A hardware system is disclosed for detecting alignment marks on a substrate in connection with electron beam lithography. The system is considerably faster than prior software approaches. A scanning signal derived from backscattered electrons as the beam scans the substrate is stored and updated in a set of shift registers as scanning proceeds. The signals in the scanning shift registers are compared with a predetermined reference signal, corresponding to the expected scanning signal when the beam traverses an edge of an alignment mark, stored in another set of shift registers. A correlation is obtained between the scanning and reference signals by multiplying the values of the corresponding cells in the scanning and reference registers, and accumulating and weighting the result. The locations of the maximum positive and negative correlations, and hence the locations of the opposed edges of the alignment mark, are obtained by means of a timing mechanism coordinated with the scanning.

Abstract: A structural pivot 10 includes a first sleeve 18 and a second sleeve 20 which are connected together by a pair of flexures 22 and 24. Each flexure includes a pair of blades 40, 42 and 54, 56. The free ends of the blades are connected to the sleeves 18, 20 while the common cross members 44 and 62 remain spaced from the inner surfaces of the sleeves. During angular rotation of the sleeves, the blades can flex without resulting in a geometric center shift for the pivot.

Abstract: An optical scanning system (10) is disclosed for scanning a wide incoming field of view of at least 60 degrees. The system (10) incorporates two flat mirrors (12,26) which rotate about two axes (20,28). The motion of the two mirrors is synchronized. The resulting scanned image is directed onto a sensor (54) with minimal rotation and distortion of the image.