HDTRA1-19-S-0004 IIRM URA BAA Final Draft Feb2019.pdf

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DEFENSE THREAT REDUCTION AGENCY

BROAD AGENCY ANNOUNCEMENT

HDTRA1-19-S-0004

DRAFT February 2019

Research and Development Directorate (RD) Chief Scientist and Innovation Department (ST)

Interaction of Ionizing Radiation with Matter

University Research Alliance

(IIRM-URA)

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

SECTION NO. PAGE NO.

OVERVIEW INFORMATION

ADDITIONAL OVERVIEW INFORMATION

1. PROGRAM DESCRIPTION

2. FEDERAL AWARD INFORMATION

3. ELIGIBILITY INFORMATION

4. APPLICATION AND SUBMISSION INFORMATION

5. APPLICATION REVIEW INFORMATION

6. AWARD ADMINISTRATION INFORMATION

7. AGENCY CONTACTS

8. OTHER INFORMATION

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OVERVIEW INFORMATION

Agency Name:

Defense Threat Reduction Agency (DTRA) Research and Development (RD) Directorate Chief Scientist and Innovation Department (ST) 8725 John J. Kingman Road, MS 6201 Fort Belvoir, VA 22060-6201 Funding Opportunity Title: DRAFT of the Interaction of Ionizing Radiation with Matter University Research Alliance (IIRM-URA) Broad Agency Announcement (BAA) Announcement Type: This is a draft announcement of this funding opportunity.

Funding Opportunity Number: HDTRA1-19-S-0004 Catalog of Federal Domestic Assistance (CFDA) Number: 12.351 Dates: This BAA is in effect from the final posting date through September 2019. Phase I pre-proposal submissions are due 60 days following the publishing date of the final BAA.

ADDITIONAL OVERVIEW INFORMATION

Purpose: Recent advancements in materials science make studies on how ionizing radiation interacts with new materials a ripe area for investment of DTRA basic research funds. Improved understanding will advance the state of the art for radiation detectors, survivability of Department of Defense (DoD) systems, and military functionality following a nuclear event.

Some of the overall goals of the science would be to enable: radiation sensing from multiple platforms; cost effective hardening and hardness testing of DoD systems; and safe and efficient military operations in a nuclear environment.

According to the 2018 Nuclear Posture Review, “the United States will sustain its specialized capabilities to search for, interdict, characterize, and disable nuclear devices.” In order to fulfill this mission capability, research into novel radiation sensor materials can provide improved efficiency and energy resolution while also offering superior robustness over current materials and methods. Understanding the phenomenologies governing novel materials may lead to new strategies for radiation-sensing materials and alternative sensing methodologies.

The DoD must be prepared to survive and respond to a nuclear event on foreign soil, domestic soil, or in space. A nuclear explosion poses a variety of threats from the thermal blast, overpressure, electromagnetic pulse (EMP), prompt ionizing radiation, and nuclear fallout. The DoD’s equipment, systems, and personnel must be able to survive and operate in a nuclear environment.

Two of the main pillars of the 2018 Nuclear Posture Review are to, “achieve U.S. objectives should deterrence fail,” and to, “hedge against an uncertain future.” DTRA's basic research program addresses these two pillars, in part, by improving the DoD's capability to survive and respond to a nuclear attack. To succeed in this goal, DTRA invests in research for innovative materials or methods that can shield or defend against the effects of nuclear weapons, ensuring that the warfighter can operate in a nuclear environment. Additionally, the DoD will also be charged with collecting and analyzing debris samples from a nuclear event. Furthermore, DTRA is tasked with maintaining and operating the U.S.-owned stations of the International Monitoring

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System, which monitors the planet for any sign of a nuclear explosion.

A joint theme through all of these missions is the interaction of ionizing radiation with matter.

While the material, radiation type, or desired interaction may differ, there is significant overlap in the relevant physics, modeling approaches, and device design. The Interaction of Ionizing Radiation with Matter (IIRM) University Research Alliance (URA), collectively known as the IIRM-URA, seeks to exploit these overlaps in physics and approaches for collaborative and synergistic advances in understanding material radiation interaction, advancing devices and integration, and advancing nuclear survivability and response.

The Research Areas (RAs) for the IIRM-URA are as follows:

• Materials

• Devices and Integration

• Survivability and Response In addition to these three RAs, Modeling and Simulation has been identified as a Cross Cutting Research Initiative (CCRI) that is inherent in each of the RAs and that must be jointly studied with the RAs to make fundamental advances in IIRM.

Award Instrument and Structure: This Broad Agency Announcement (BAA) is expected to result in the award of a cooperative agreement (CA) as defined at 31 United States Code (U.S.C.)

6305 for the execution of the program. The CA will be awarded to an Alliance of United States (U.S.)-based organizations that may include U.S. institutions of higher education, DoD-Degree Granting Colleges and Universities, DoD Service Labs, U.S. industrial partners, and/or U.S. non-profit organizations. At this time, performance under the CA is not limited to individuals designated as U.S. Persons; however, individual participation could be limited in the future based on DoD policy changes.

The Alliance must be led by a U.S. institution of higher education charged with spearheading the focused basic research program. This organization will be designated as the Lead Research Organization (LRO). Each Research Area (RA) will be led by a different U.S.-based institution of higher education that will be designated as the Lead Research Area Organization (LRAO).

One of the LRAOs could also be the LRO; however, the same entity cannot be the LRAO for more than one RA. Together the LRO and LRAOs make up the permanent Alliance members, who are responsible for shaping and steering the URA through collaboration with DTRA.

Collectively the URA members and DTRA make up the Consortium. Performance under the URA and resulting CA will likely also include organizations beyond the LRAOs as subawardees to the LRO. These subawardees are non-permanent members of the URA.

Alliances are encouraged to include Historically Black Colleges and Universities (as determined by the Secretary of Education to meet requirements of Title III of the Higher Education Act of 1965 as amended, 20 U.S.C. § 1061) and from Minority Institutions defined as institutions “whose enrollment of a single minority or a combination of minorities…exceeds 50 percent of the total enrollment,” 20 U.S.C. § 1067k(3).

While DTRA anticipates that a single award may be made from this BAA, the Government reserves the right to fund all, some, or none of the proposals submitted; may elect to fund only part of any or all proposals; and may incrementally fund any or all awards under this BAA. The Government also reserves the right to request applicants make any changes necessary to

HDTRA1-19-S-0004 Page 5 documents submitted as part of an application package to increase the feasibility of making the proposal fundable. Applicants may decline to participate in any revisions to application packages requested by DTRA.

Proposal Submission: The BAA will be conducted in two phases. Phase I is for receipt and evaluation of pre-proposal submissions. Phase II is for receipt and evaluation of invited proposal packages. Invitation to submit a Phase II proposal will be based on the evaluation results of the Phase I pre-proposal submission.

All submissions must be made in accordance with the submission instructions in this BAA through www.grants.gov using the application packages linked with this BAA (under the “Package” tab) on www.grants.gov. Applicants are responsible for ensuring compliant and final submission of all applications. Any submission that does not conform to the requirements outlined in the BAA and in the invitation for Phase II submissions may not be reviewed or considered further at the discretion of DTRA.

Period of Performance: Efforts may be proposed for five years with two additional two year options. The total possible period of performance is nine years.

Funding: Estimated funding for the CA is anticipated to be from $5M to $6M annually (total, including both direct and indirect costs) depending on the nature and the scope of work. This BAA is issued subject to the availability of funds. The funding levels provided are to allow applicants to prepare estimates only. Payments on CAs will be made in advance, subject to the conditions described in 2 Code Federal Regulations (CFR) 200.305.

Profit/Fee: In accordance with 32 CFR §22.205, profit/fee is not permitted under the CA.

Cost Sharing: Cost sharing is not required under this BAA; however, efforts that include cost sharing or in kind contributions are allowed.

Terms and Conditions of Awards: Any CA awarded under this announcement will be governed by the award terms and conditions, which conform to DoD's implementation of The Office of Management and Budget (OMB) circulars applicable to financial assistance. This includes DoD implementation of OMB guidance in 2 CFR Part 200, "Uniform Administrative Requirements, Cost Principles, and Audit Requirements for Federal Awards."

http://www.grants.gov/ http://www.grants.gov/

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1. PROGRAM DESCRIPTION

1.1. Introduction

The Defense Threat Reduction Agency (DTRA) safeguards America and its allies from weapons of mass destruction (WMD) and provides capabilities to reduce, eliminate, and counter the threat and effects from chemical, biological, radiological, nuclear, and high yield explosives. DTRA seeks to identify, adopt, and adapt emerging, existing and revolutionary sciences that may demonstrate high payoff potential to Counter-WMD (C-WMD) threats. As a combat support agency, DTRA provides both operational support and specialized capabilities in science and technology (S&T). The Agency is the premier Department of Defense (DoD) source of science-based WMD expertise and a sponsor of basic research focused exclusively on WMD threat reduction.

Overcoming the most difficult technical challenges for combatting WMD requires revolutionary advancements in S&T. Only strategic investment in basic research will lead to the scientific breakthroughs needed for future WMD threat reduction. The strategy for the basic research program is to target unique C-WMD challenges within DTRA’s mission space. The program’s goals are as follows:

• Train the next-generation workforce;

• Advance the fundamental knowledge and understanding in the sciences;

• Promote university research to support WMD threat reduction; and

• Facilitate transition of research that enables new capabilities for the warfighter.

The program avoids preconceptions about specific applications or solutions in order to preserve the integrity of basic research. However, to maintain the relevance of the program to the larger DTRA mission and to ensure focus on the strategic goal of transitioning the research to enable new capabilities for the warfighter, the applied research requirements across the Agency are used to inform our choices. This approach has successfully attracted outstanding research institutions and a new generation of scientists into the field of WMD threat reduction. It also provides a hedge against the uncertainty of future threats and technology surprise.

To continue and expand on the program’s success to date, DTRA is evolving the investment strategy for basic research. DTRA intends to establish a new partnership that seeks to investigate the Interaction of Ionizing Radiation with Matter (IIRM) in the context of future WMD-relevant operations through a new University Research Alliance (URA) that will consist of United States (U.S.) university researchers working to solve complex problems. The Interaction of Ionizing Radiation with Matter University Research Alliance (IIRM-URA) seeks to advance the understanding of material-radiation interaction, advancing radiation detection and radiation hard devices and integration, and advancing nuclear survivability and response.

DTRA strongly believes that a joint collaborative approach by a multidisciplinary team of researchers is required to make fundamental advances towards meeting the URA goal to develop a fundamental understanding of the interaction of ionizing radiation with various materials and devices that are relevant to the DoD. DTRA has identified three interrelated Research Areas (RAs) that when jointly studied will advance the fundamental foundations of IIRM in the context of future operations. These RAs and the suggested relative funding levels are:

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• RA1—Materials (35%),

• RA2—Devices and Integration (20%), and

• RA3—Survivability and Response (20%).

In addition to these three RAs, Modeling and Simulation (5-10%) has been identified as a Cross- Cutting Research Initiative (CCRI) that is inherent in each of the RAs and that must be jointly studied with the RAs to make fundamental advances in IIRM.

IIRM-URA LRO

RA 1—LRAO 1

Materials (~35%)

RA 2—LRAO 2

Devices and

Integration (~20%)

RA 3—LRAO 3

Survivability and Response (~20%)

Focus Area 1 Radiation Sensing

Materials

Focus Area 2 Optical Materials

Focus Area 3 Functional Physical

Materials

Focus Area 1 Photodetectors

Focus Area 2 Non-Volatile Memory

Focus Area 3 Detector Electronics and Signal Processing

Focus Area 1 Survivability Testing

Focus Area 2 Collection and Analysis

Focus Area 3 RN Contamination

Interaction of Ionizing Radiation with Matter (IIRM)-

UNIVERSITY RESEARCH ALLIANCE (URA)

Permanent Alliance

Members

Cross Cutting Research Initiative—Modeling and Simulation (~5-10%)

Focus Area 4 Functional

Computational and Electronic Materials

Focus Area 4 Non-Traditional Computational

Devices

Focus Area 4 Shielding

Student Sandbox

(~10-15%)

Figure 1: General structure of the IIRM-URA.

The IIRM-URA is intended to create a collaborative environment that enables the Alliance to advance the state-of-the-art and to take advantage of the diverse scientific capabilities and viewpoints of both the academic sector and government personnel. The IIRM-URA will work collaboratively with DTRA Technical Points of Contact (TPOCs) to develop research programs and identify areas where joint, multidisciplinary, collaborative research is advantageous.

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Continuous collaboration through technical exchanges, site visits, student development, outreach opportunities, etc. will strengthen and improve the IIRM-URA research and its DoD relevance.

Each RA is composed of four Focus Areas (FAs). The FAs include the basic research needs DTRA has identified that may enable technology development within each RA. While it is anticipated that the majority of the FAs will be addressed over the life of the Alliance, the FAs in the green boxes in Figure 1 are expected to be addressed in the Initial Program Plan (IPP).

1.2. Programmatic Strategy

The Cooperative Agreement (CA) will be awarded to an Alliance of organizations that will be led by U.S. institutions of higher education and may include additional U.S. institutions of higher education, DoD-Degree Granting Colleges and Universities, DoD Service Laboratories, Federally-funded research and development centers (FFRDCs) to include DOE National Laboratories, U.S. industrial partners, and U.S. non-profit organizations.

The Alliance will work in collaboration with DTRA TPOCs to advance the state-of-the-art in IIRM to meet the challenges of future military operations. DTRA and the URA selected for award will establish the Consortium that will work collaboratively to conduct basic research addressing key scientific gaps and barriers critical to IIRM. Additionally, other government agencies may participate in the Consortium and contribute their technical expertise, personnel, and facilities. A significant goal of this effort will be to create a critical mass of collaborating scientists and engineers focused on solving ionizing radiation research challenges outlined within the scope of the IIRM-URA. This intellectual synergy is also expected to include sharing equipment, personnel, and facilities to promote efficiency and enhance collaboration.

It is anticipated that the predominance of work conducted by the IIRM-URA will be fundamental research as defined in National Security Decision Directive (NSDD) 189, National Policy on the Transfer of Scientific, Technical, and Engineering Information. Fundamental research is basic and applied research in science and engineering, the results of which ordinarily are published and shared broadly within the scientific community, as distinguished from proprietary research and from industrial development, design, production, and product utilization, the results of which ordinarily are restricted for proprietary or national security reasons. Contracted fundamental research includes research performed the CA that are (a) funded by Budget Category 6.1 (Basic Research), whether performed by universities or industry or (b) funded by Budget Category 6.2 (Applied Research) performed on-campus at a university1. Fundamental research provides for science and technology (S&T) research and early applied development. It seeks to lower performance risk to a manageable level and facilitate transition and funding to capability end-state programs.

Initially the research conducted by the IIRM-URA will align under Budget Category 6.1 (Basic Research) funding. However, to provide the Government with the most flexibility, the CA will also allow participation from other Government agencies and may result in additional Budget Category 6.1 funding as well as some Budget Category 6.2 funding (see discussion of Enhanced Program below). Thus, the research conducted under the IIRM-URA CA will fall within the first four Technology Readiness Levels (TRLs). TRLs provide a systematic metric/measurement

1 Under Secretary of Defense for Acquisition, Technology and Logistics Memorandum, SUBJECT: Contracted Fundamental Research, dated 26 Jun 2008

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The research strategy developed by the applicant should adopt a systematic approach to fundamental research focused on understanding ionizing radiation-related phenomena in matter so that techniques can be used (1) to learn to better bridge energy deposition into novel device behavior; (2) to devise testing and measures that increase options for protection and survivability against radiation and radioactive products; and, (3) to uncover hidden insights and meaningful events and anomalies. This research should lead to an elucidation of fundamental laws, theories and theoretically grounded and empirically validated models that enable design of dynamic, adaptive, and goal-driven ionizing radiation source detection and countermeasures to their use as WMD. Applicants must carefully choose research topics to create a substantial group of researchers from diverse technical fields addressing the challenges proposed. Applicants are expected to apply the following suggested allocation of resources for the three RAs over the lifetime of the Alliance:

• RA1—Materials (~35% of the total effort),

• RA2—Devices and Integration (~20% of the total effort), and

• RA3—Survivability and Response (~20% of the total effort).

Research in each RA must be interdisciplinary in order to inform and be informed by the developments in the other two RAs given the strong inter-dependencies between the three RAs.

Furthermore, the research dedicated to each area must address the CCRI. The CCRI resources are an integral part of the RA efforts.

This BAA is to solicit the most creative, innovative, and flexible approaches to the ultimate goal of generating and exploiting research to solve pressing research gaps and issues impacting both the military and commercial sectors. This BAA seeks Phase I pre-proposal submissions and invited Phase II proposal submissions; this BAA may result in the award of a single CA. In response to the BAA, applicants will be required to:

• Define the strategy for implementing an approach which synergistically integrates the three RAs and the CCRI and outline the metrics by which success of the program is expected to be measured.

• Scope and define the research, appropriate to the overall funding of the URA, ensuring all elements of the proposed research are tightly integrated in a way that the results of the research in one area support and enhance the results in other areas. Applicants should identify the most critical research issues and describe how the set of research efforts meet the goals of this program. Sufficient resources should be allocated to ensure enough critical mass to make fundamental progress.

• Formulate a basic research program which clearly demonstrates innovative, detailed and substantive scientific plans to address each of the three RAs and the CCRI. The proposal should clearly articulate the applicant’s vision for the area and the applicant’s research goals for the program (the base period and for each additional option).

• Present the experience, qualifications and availability of the scientific staff and the quality and relevance of research facilities.

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• Identify approaches to building collaborations within the Alliance and with DTRA, which are essential to the success of the IIRM-URA.

• Identify the overall management (business plan) and programmatic and administrative team with the expertise to achieve the stated research goals and to oversee and manage finances, reporting, data, meetings, reviews and intellectual property.

1.3. Research Strategy

The three Research Areas (RA) for the IIRM-URA, their respective FA, and the CCRI are described below.

RA1: Materials. RA1 is focused on the fundamental interactions of ionizing radiation (photons, electrons, protons, neutrons, and heavy ions) with materials. Of particular interest are radiation interactions with new materials, functional materials, and materials being used in new ionizing radiation relevant applications. Experimental, modeling, and computational lines of effort are expected to be relevant to this research area. RA1 is composed of four (4) FAs: FA1 – Radiation Sensing Materials; FA2 – Optical Materials; FA3 – Functional Physical Materials; and FA4 – Functional Computational and Electronic Materials.

RA1-FA1: Radiation Sensing Materials This FA seeks research into novel radiation sensor materials that provide improved efficiency and energy resolution but also offer superior robustness over current materials. Current sensor materials are either bulky or brittle (NaI, High Purity Ge), are limited in size due to growth constraints (cadmium zinc telluride), or possess poor energy resolution and efficiency for gamma-rays (plastic scintillators). We envision a new class of materials that possess excellent response (resolution and efficiency) and are also mechanically robust, lightweight, and have the versatility to be produced in a variety of unconventional sizes and shapes.

Current radiation detection technologies suffer from setbacks generated by making tradeoffs for many desired features. Tradeoffs include the following: high detector efficiency demands large area detectors with large power supply needs, good pulse shape discrimination from high radiation backgrounds may incur longer detection times, lightweight and low-cost detector designs generally yield high uncertainties from their poorly-resolved results. Understanding the phenomenologies governing novel materials may expose new insights available for radiation-sensing materials and alternative sensing methodologies.

Potential research could investigate material interaction with gamma and neutron radiation, new or innovative material growth methods, or physical and mechanical material properties.

Fundamental studies of the interaction of matter and mechanisms of transfer of energy are critical for successful development of nuclear sensing methodologies. The investigation of scintillation and other fundamental radiation interaction phenomena to improve resolution and other direct radiation sensing parameters is of interest. Additional areas of interest include:

studying synthesis/fabrication-ease and basic properties that enable flexible employment;

scintillators be made in any shape desired and become weight-bearing structures; additive manufacturing for printable scintillators and improved mechanical robustness of scintillators;

materials development of high-efficiency solid-organic or plastic scintillators; growth methods to develop unconventional detector shapes and designs.

Research could also investigate the combination neutron and gamma imagers into one system

HDTRA1-19-S-0004 Page 11 through materials research. Furthermore, the exploration of cosmic radiation for ultra-trace but discernible measurements is of interest. Additionally, the investigation of flexible-nanostructured radiation sensors providing real-time dose reconstruction (nanomaterial dosimeter alternative) could be addressed. Exploring new physical sensing mechanisms for finding and characterizing radiation emitters could be included in this research area as well. Another area of research that is of interest is the investigations of the interaction of ionizing radiation with common building materials, to include the study of ubiquitous materials’ response to possible proliferation signatures and exploring if time stamp information could be derived from the radiation interaction history.

Bridging the scientific and technical synergistic knowledge of nanoscience, quantum science, and sensor sciences is also of interest. Areas for investigation could include: nano-based tagging, nanorobotics and nanosensors. This includes nanostructured materials that could be incorporated into room-temperature radiation sensors with excellent energy resolution. This area of research could include: the use of nanomaterials to provide novel mechanism of charge production, transport and collection resulting from interaction with ionizing radiation; novel detection of unique or ancillary signatures of fissile or radiological materials or the facilities in which they may be handled; exploration of nanoscale and nanostructured phenomenology;

interaction phenomena of primary and secondary radiations with nanomaterials resulting in conversion of radiation to observable signatures; assemblies of repetitive nanostructures for bulk detectors of penetrating radiation; properties of nanodevices and nanomaterials that enable micro-electromechanical systems for detection, characterization, and counting of radiation.

References for RA1-FA1:

Mishnayot, Y., Layani, M., Cooperstein, I., Magdassi, S., & Ron, G. (2014). Three-dimensional printing of scintillating materials. Review of Scientific Instruments, 85(8), 085102.

D. McCarthy, S. O'Keeffe, G. Leen and E. Lewis, "Optical fiber radiation dosimetry for low dose applications," SENSORS, 2010 IEEE, Kona, HI, 2010, pp. 1663-1666. doi: 10.1109/ICSENS.2010.5689945

RA1-FA2: Optical Materials Optical systems and devices have performance and reliability advantages over conventional electrical systems and devices. However, there are a number of unanswered questions with respect to the interactions of ionizing radiation with optical materials. This research area focuses broadly on three DoD-relevant optical material applications: high speed optical communication, propagation and collection of scintillated light, and optical coatings and cover glasses.

Ionizing radiation has been observed to increase optical absorption (loss), shift refractive index, and create color centers in waveguides. Displacement damage in silica-based optical fibers is not of interest. Investigations of displacement or total dose damage in other optical materials should be connected to larger optocoupler or optical interconnect systems.

One research area of interest is single event effects (SEE) and dose rate effects on optical interconnects. Recent modeling studies have suggested that a heavy ion strike could deposit sufficient charge in a waveguide to temporarily modify the refractive index and disrupt high speed optical communication. Significant work remains to quantify and experimentally demonstrate this effect. The long lengths of optical interconnects may also make them susceptible to high dose rate effects.

Another area of interest is the transport and collection of scintillation light for optimization of

HDTRA1-19-S-0004 Page 12 non-conventionally shaped scintillation based detectors. Flexible, conformal, or structural scintillation materials present unique challenges for transportation and efficient collection of light.

References for RA1-FA2:

Goley, Patrick S.; Fleetwood, Zachary E.; Cressler, John D.; IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON NUCLEAR SCIENCE;

Volume: 65 Issue: 1 Pages: 141-148 Part: 1 Published: JAN 2018

RA1-FA3: Functional Physical Materials Major functions for detector materials include direct interactions with radiation, subsequent internal transport of charge and photons, and integrated computationally functional materials to record and process the creation of interaction products. Another category of interest is the use of physically functional materials to support these areas and improve detectors. Such support may provide energy, smart materials response, or enhanced ability for deployment of detectors under different platforms. Another possible function that a material may serve is to transduce the output energy into a form more readily useful for supporting data storage and information processing. A third area of interest in functional materials is to provide structure or actuation that supports how the materials are deployed.

Functional materials are envisioned to support detection by amplifying the energy of the radiation interaction. A further potential purpose for novel materials is to act as a source of energy and power for the computational materials, including mechanisms to use the energy deposited by radiation for powering computational materials. In principle, nanostructured materials may be tailored to act as energy storage and power transducers.

Particles including photons can deposit kilo-electron volts to mega-electron volts of energy into a radiation absorbing material. The light yield and intrinsic efficiency is then related to conventional processes, such as for scintillators, to capture and transform this deposited energy into data measurements. However, there is potentially an ancillary method using nanoenergetic materials as a means of increasing the energy release per interaction event. This is analogous to the use of uranium in some hadron calorimeters to assist the measurement of total energy in complex sets of particle physics detectors. In this case, the fission process is a mechanism for enhancing energy available for detection and compensating for portions of a particle shower that may otherwise be lost. We are interested in a related research area that does not emphasize nuclear fission as a mechanism.

This example raises a question about lower energy detectors used in finding radiological or nuclear weapons and source emitters. Does the emergence of nanoscience open new pathways for accomplishing an energy enhancement in detection? We seek an emphasis on other means than fissionable materials as an energy source. A subarea for research is to explore materials for excitations other than solely scintillation/luminescence, and in the process investigate self-amplifying radiation sensitive material. Similarly, research could investigate semiconductors and composite materials with other types of self-amplifying functional centers for sensors.

Another research area that prompts consideration of energy amplification for detection is the growing field of investigation of tailored materials for energetic use. These include high energy density materials which can exceed tens of megajoules per kilogram, and which can lend themselves to rapid release of energy such as may be useful in propulsion applications. It may be possible to find novel mechanisms that can store energy and release power in a form useful

HDTRA1-19-S-0004 Page 13 for amplifying the signal from the direct deposition of energy by an ionizing particle in a detector.

Questions that may be answered include:

• What mechanisms on a nano (or micro) scale may be useful to accomplish enhanced energy per event for radiation detection?

• Can any of the known mechanisms in nanoenergetics provide sufficient energy that is released fast enough for detector response times?

• Are there energetic mechanisms that may be responsive to this need that are not well known?

• How does consumable energy release affect longevity of radiation detection material targets, or physical integrity of the detection component?

If there are suitable materials and physical mechanisms to augment measurement of a particle interaction, the next question is to determine whether the mechanism is a suitable alternative to current detector architectures. Would the same or better resolution be expected simply by adding a similar weight and volume of traditional radiation absorber instead of the energetic material?

Deposition of MeV energy scales is equivalent to a large number of chemical-based augmenting interactions.

In addition to energy amplification, a functional material may transduce the output into a form specifically more useful for associated electronics. For example, the fit of photodetectors to a particular spectral region is a well-known issue in detector systems. What else might be done in a particular interactive material to couple the output and provide good signal-to-noise output for the rest of the detector? Questions that may be considered include:

• Can output from interactive materials be matched to the needs of supporting novel materials in a detector architecture (e.g., topological electronic materials)?

• Are there novel mechanisms within the interactive material for reducing noise or background?

A third area for investigation is the consideration of how materials serve to support deployment of sensors. Physically functional materials that explore order and active response to the environment in smart structures and materials may be for wide area, low intensity sensors and real-time image construction. For example, this subarea may serve to expand the potential for integrating sensing into mobile platforms such as UAVs. Achievement in this area provides groundwork to advance the science of connecting function with structure in materials for nuclear sensing of weapons and materials or, more generally, nuclear threat detection purposes.

Another related area of interest for physically functional material research area is the exploration of wearable detectors, such as scintillating fibers that could be incorporated into body armor and uniforms, or hand-carried equipment with other primary functions than detection. Dosimeters are used for personal dose recording. The goal is to go beyond simple dosimeters and incorporate nuclear detector systems into wearable form. Transparent armor materials, for example, could be investigated to function as and match optical properties of scintillators.

Questions may include:

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• What fundamental material architecture smart responses are suitable to explore for potential future deployment flexibility (e.g., can a sensing material be optionally rigid versus bendable, and how does this impact the sensing function)?

• Are there exploitable combinations of environmental stimuli and nanostructured materials responses at either a local material level or across a macroscale that alter the physical form of detector components in order to better improve measurement of ionizing radiation among various deployment options (e.g., wearable forms may be very different from UAV forms for detectors; also, flight conditions such as speed and altitude may impact the sensing area needed)?

RA1-FA4: Functional Computational and Electronic Materials Silicon continues to dominate the market for ASICs, microprocessors, and microcontrollers with limited near-term potential for new materials that don’t add functionality. There remain opportunities for adding new materials that add functionality or provide new approaches to computation. Research in this area should focus on radiation effects in emerging computational and electronic materials. While some materials and test structure development may be necessary, the bulk of the effort should focus on fundamental radiation effects, including but not limited to total ionizing dose, displacement damage, dose rate, and single event effects. It is expected that all research in this area will inform and be informed by modeling efforts at the material and device level.

One research area of interest is radiation effects in novel material systems with unique properties. This includes topological insulators and negative (differential) capacitance. Negative capacitance offers the possibility of beating the 60 mV/decade limit on FET subthreshold slope and enabling lower voltage/power computation. While some work has been done on radiation effects in ferroelectric materials, no known work has been done specifically on radiation effects on negative capacitance.

Another research area of potential interest is radiation effects in materials for non-charge based memory and computation. Spintronics and Valleytronics promise memory, computation, and communication approaches that don’t rely on charge storage on transport. Recent studies have shown that spin lifetimes can be robust compared to electronic properties in GaAs after proton irradiation. For many material systems and test structures the possible effects of radiation are not yet known.

More established electronic and computational materials such as ultra-wide bandgap materials (Ga2O3, AlN, diamond, etc.) and perovskites are also relevant to this research area. Ultra-wide bandgap materials have higher breakdown voltages and are promising for applications in power switching and RF generation. Proposed research in this area should be informed by current radiation effects work on ultra-wide bandgap materials.

References for RA1-FA4:

Brennan C. Pursley, X. Song, R. O. Torres-Isea, E. A. Bokari, A. Kayani, and V. Sih, “Robustness of n-GaAs Carrier Spin Properties to 5 MeV Proton Irradiation,” Applied Physics Letters 106, 072403 (2015)

Ando, Yoichi, “Topological Insulator Materials,” Journal of the Physical Society of Japan, v82 issue 10, 2013.

Salahuddin, Sayeef; Dattat, Supriyo, “Use of negative capacitance to provide voltage amplification for low power nanoscale devices,” Nano Letters, v8 Issue 2, pp405, 2008.

Khan, Asif Islam; Chatterjee, Korok; Wang, Brian; et al, “Negative capacitance in a ferroelectric capacitor,” Nature

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Materials, v14 issue 2, pp182, 2015.

RA2: Devices and Integration. Rarely are individual materials or simple devices the end product for DoD applications. Understanding how these materials and simple devices interact with each other and with ionizing radiation is crucial to their implantation in DoD systems. For radiation detectors, the photodetector, signal amplification, and associated electronics have a significant effect on successful detection and discrimination. For complex logic and memory electronics, the layout, access transistors, circuit design, architecture, and computation algorithm can determine which radiation effects are dominant and what impact they have on mission performance. RA2 is composed of four (4) FAs: FA1 – Photodetectors; FA2 – Non-volatile Memory; FA3 – Detector Electronics and Signal Processing; and FA4 – Non-traditional Computational Devices.

RA2-FA1: Photodetectors Leveraging the active field of solar cell technology development has the potential to enhance photodetection capabilities for radiation sensing by increasing detection efficiency and accommodating flexible and scalable detector designs. This research area would pursue compact, photosensitive solid-state sensors that may have the desirable properties of low noise, fast response, and high quantum efficiency for the wavelengths that are commonly emitted by scintillators. Any proposed research should show how the proposed approach is competitive with state-of-the-art silicon photomultipliers (SiPMs). Research that investigates solid-state photodetectors and electronics could include exploring techniques that use flexible substrates;

investigating organic materials, hybrid organic-inorganic materials, and perovskites with high quantum efficiency; exploring the possibility of organic photodetectors and scintillators polymerized at the same time.

RA2-FA2: Non-volatile Memory There is strong demand in both the DoD and commercial space for scaled high-reliability non-volatile memory. A number of different physical phenomena and technologies have been proposed for non-volatile memory including, but not limited to, phase change, ion and vacancy based resistance change, and magnetic tunnel junctions. There is also interest in one time programmable memory for security, trust, and high reliability FPGAs and multi-level cells that can reliably store more than one bit. Individual resistive elements have generally been shown to be resistant to total ionizing dose and displacement damage effects from radiation.

While research on non-volatile memory materials and individual devices is not excluded, this research area is particularly interested in the radiation effects challenges associated with scaling and integrating non-volatile memory. This includes radiation effects in selector materials, single event effects on arrayed non-volatile memory, and dose rate effects on memory arrays.

Radiation effects on integrated one time programmable and multi-level cells is also of interest.

RA2-FA3: Detector Electronics and Signal Processing The Defense Threat Reduction Agency develops technology to search for, locate, and characterize radiological/nuclear (RN) materials and weapons of mass destruction. The detection of many materials, particularly Special Nuclear Material (SNM), is difficult due to weak radioactive signatures. In many cases, close quarters search with portable detectors is necessary.

In order to overcome these challenges, DTRA has been developing advanced detection systems, including wearable detectors, detector networks that provide improved situational awareness to

HDTRA1-19-S-0004 Page 16 warfighters, and unmanned vehicles (UAV, UGV) for autonomous search. These detection systems require improved size, weight, and power (SWaP) in order to increase the speed, accuracy, and reliability of these searches. Additionally, decision makers are often flooded with sensor data simply because it can be provided. This information is often useless, and decision makers need more actionable information. Methods to automate information processing into meaningful, actionable information would be valuable for this mission space.

Improving the capabilities for radiological search relies on incremental improvements to detection system performance and its integration. Detector electronics and signal processing methods have been identified as an important research area with potential to improve the current detection capabilities of the aforementioned systems. Research related to signal processing and detector electronics should investigate innovative methods to improve the performance and integration of the non-detection components of a detector system. For example, relevant research may include the investigation of flexible electronics, which would provide some adaptability when mounting detection systems on non-traditional platforms. Additionally, novel integration of detector electronics with portable detection systems with a focus on improving SWaP would be a valuable investigation. Research may also include the exploration of integrated nano/microelectronics that could support the radiation sensitive material and the investigation of tailorable energy and power control for the detection system on the microscale.

Similarly, the development of novel algorithms fits under this research area. Algorithm development aimed to improve detector performance in both low and extremely high background environments are of interest to DTRA. These algorithms could use machine learning and artificial intelligence or advanced statistical methods to analyze gamma spectra and extract valuable information.

Research interest in this area also includes the investigation of novel methods for detector signal processing. Decision makers have access to record amounts of sensor data, but often this does not provide contextual information that could lead to informed action. This investigation should focus on automating the processing of detector signals in order to efficiently and quickly transmit data and provide decision makers with actionable information. Research should be platform agnostic, but apply to systems where data from multiple sensors operate on a widespread network. The automation of information processing to provide context and decision making options is a significant need moving forward.

RA2-FA4: Non-traditional Computational Devices As traditional digital Von Neumann computation begins to hit performance and cost limits there has been increased interest in non-traditional and non-Von Neumann computational devices, approaches, architectures, and algorithms. Some approaches, such as distributed memory or multi-level devices, can be complementary to standard digital computation. Neuromorphic computation, analog computation, or computational memory approaches require new architecture and algorithms, but can be explored using CMOS devices and fabrication. Other approaches, such as quantum computing or all optical computing require completely new devices, architectures, and algorithms. The effects of radiation on any of these non-traditional devices and approaches is relatively unknown and investigation requires an integrated modeling and experimental approach.

Research of interest in this area should consider the effects of radiation not only at the device level, but at the circuit, architecture, and application level. It is known that SRAM and Flash

HDTRA1-19-S-0004 Page 17 memory can be the weak link in FPGA or CMOS implementations of neuromorphic computing or deep learning and researchers are encouraged to look beyond effects on memory. In addition to total dose, displacement damage, and single event effects, researchers are encouraged to consider the effect of high dose rates on these systems.

RA3: Survivability and Response. As outlined in the National Defense Strategy, the priority of "transitioning from large, centralized, unhardened infrastructure to smaller, dispersed, resilient, adaptive basing that include active and passive defenses," must be addressed to, "forward force maneuver and posture resilience." Research to prevent or reduce radiological contamination will allow the military to maintain battle rhythm while keeping troops and vehicles safe. With survivability, the science to protect soldiers, buildings, and equipment can help the military maintain a deterrence policy by ensuring the capability to respond to a nuclear explosion. Research into new radiation shielding materials and methods will aid in efforts to keep the warfighter and vulnerable equipment safe and able to work in extreme environments.

Research in nuclear survivability testing is of particular interest as the DoD looks to modernize its strategic systems. New and faster methods for collecting and analyzing samples will assist in determining the characteristics of a nuclear blast in a way that better informs decision makers.

This RA is composed of four (4) FAs: FA1 – Survivability Testing; FA2 – Collection and Analysis; FA3 – Radiological and Nuclear (RN) Contamination; and FA4 – Shielding.

RA3-FA1: Survivability Testing The DoD needs the ability to quickly and reliably test devices, components, sub-systems, and systems to ensure that they will survive the effects of a nuclear explosion. While there are multiple potential effects from a nuclear explosion, research in this area is primarily concerned with ionizing radiation. This includes neutrons, gammas, protons, and electrons from a total dose, dose rate, and single event effect perspective. This area is not expected to focus on x-ray blow-off or high altitude electromagnetic pulse (HEMP), but could include fundamental system agnostic research on system generated electromagnetic pulse (SGEMP). It is not always possible to test at threat level across the threat spectrum, and in modern systems it may not be possible to test all the possible state space. Therefore, experimental testing should be closely tied to relevant modeling and simulation effects to understand the relevant fundamental physics and provide predictive capabilities.

One potential research area of interest is the broad area of equivalence and dose equivalence testing. Radiation test facilities can be expensive and in high demand, but don’t necessarily replicate the threat energy or spectrum. The use of alternative energetic particles in radiation effects testing is routine and valuable, but the underlying physics can be different and the limits of equivalence are not known. This area includes but is not limited to proton equivalence for displacement damage, electrons, 14 MeV neutrons, pulsed lasers for single events and dose rate testing. Modeling and simulation of test radiation and threat radiation to under limits of equivalence would be expected in this area.

Another research area of interest is dose rate testing and modeling especially for emerging…