DARPA ROCKN AIMS TO ATOMIC CLOCKS PORTABLE

But these pumps are not able to maintain the 'hard' vacuum required for devices such as mass detectors for analysing airborne chemicals and bolometers to measure irradiation. Lab-on-a-chip devices already use pumps to move gas or liquid. The micro-cooler will chill a space of about four cubic centimetres down to 200 degrees below zero, using just 0.1 watts. This cools by the thermoelectric effect when a current is applied. The key element is a 'micro-machined thermal isolation structure', a tiny deep-freeze made of bismuth telluride. The low-power micro-cryogenic cooler program will cool only the exact spot needed. Some electronics require very low temperatures, such as superconducting circuits and infra-red sensors, and the entire component is chilled by a bulky cooling system. Now Darpa is miniaturising many new devices. 'The technologies enabled a number of US startup companies to develop miniaturised chips for faster biological analysis, giving them the necessary long-term support to grow.' 'Darpa was instrumental in helping support much of the initial development of lab-on-a-chip in the early 90s,' says Jon Cooper, Wolfson chair of bioengineering at the University of Glasgow. Such breakthroughs tend to come from the military rather than industry. The development of mems (microelectromechanical systems) has already paved the way for 'lab-on-a-chip' chemical analysis. Now the revolution is spreading to other types of device. We have come to expect devices to get smaller, cheaper and more powerful over time. The Defence Advanced Research Projects Agency (Darpa), the Pentagon's extreme science wing, aims to provide all this, and more, in handy 'matchbook size' electronic packages.įorty years ago, Gordon Moore, the co-founder of Intel, accurately predicted that the cost of processing power would halve every two years.

For laboratory applications, there would be micro versions of everything from mass spectrometers to magnetic sensors.

DARPA ROCKN AIMS TO ATOMIC CLOCKS PORTABLE

Wouldn't it be handy if everything we needed to build the next generation of portable devices and robots were available on a microchip? You could just plug in a navigation system, a radar sensor, cryogenic cooling system, or even a miniature power unit.

Darpa rockn aims to atomic clocks