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What happens when gold and silver do not cut it anymore? You turn to metal alloys, which Army researchers use to develop new designer materials that offer a wide range of capabilities to our soldiers.
This is exactly what scientists David Baker and Joshua McClure of the US Army Research Laboratory are doing to ease the burden and increase the power of Soldier devices used on the battlefield.
Their research, conducted in collaboration with Professors Marina Leite and Chen Gong at the University of Maryland, and Professor Alexandre Rocha at Universidade Estadual Paulista in Brazil, recently featured on the cover of the September 4 issue of Advanced optical materials.
The research paper, "Alloy Strip Structure Engineering for Photonics", focuses on controlling the optical and plasmonic properties of gold and silver alloys by modifying the chemical composition of the alloys. alloy.
"We have demonstrated and characterized gold / silver alloys with tuned optical properties, known as surface plasmon polaritons, which can be used in a wide range of photonic applications," Baker said. "The fundamental effort combining experience and theory to explain the origin of the optical behavior of alloys." The work emphasizes that the electronic structure of the metal surface can be modified during the modification of the composition alloy, paving the way for integration into many different applications where each metal does not have the right features. "
The research was focused on the combination of experimental and theoretical efforts to elucidate the electronic structure of the alloy material with direct implications for optical behavior.
According to the researchers, the knowledge gained allows to adjust the optical dispersion and the light recovery capacity of these materials, which may be more efficient than systems composed of individual elements such as gold.
"The information in the document is useful for soldiers because it can be applied to a variety of applications, including photocatalytic reactions, detection / detection, and nanoscale laser applications," said McClure. "When properly adjusted, integrated alloy materials can result in reduced weight of energy recovery devices, lower energy requirements for electronics, and even more powerful optical sensors." . "
Researchers are currently studying other metal alloys and predict that their combined experimental and computer-based approach can be extended to other materials, including nonmetallic systems.
"The field of plasmonics allows paradigm shift features with applications for the fighter, that includes everything from computation to energy recovery, through communication and even directed energy," said Baker. "However, researchers in these areas are limited to a handful of elements of the periodic table, with gold and silver being the two most studied.This lack of options limits the properties available for technological development By knowing the fundamental optical and electronic properties of alloys, we can develop new designer materials that offer a wider range of capabilities. "
For the researchers, the selection of their work on the cover of the newspaper is very exciting both personally and professionally and highlights what they are developing for the success of the future Soldier.
They noted that this recognition underscored the fact that the wider scientific community recognized the value of their contributions and the direction of their research. It is clear that their allied methods and materials are becoming increasingly important and relevant for various photonic applications.
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Material provided by Research laboratory of the US Army. Note: Content can be changed for style and length.
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