Month: August 2024

Source: United States Navy

The groundbreaking theoretical research could revolutionize the development of highly efficient light-emitting devices and other technologies.
 
Generally, the lowest-energy exciton in nanocrystals is poorly emitting, earning the name “dark” exciton. Because it slows the emission of light, the dark exciton limits the performance of nanocrystal-based devices like lasers or light-emitting diodes (LEDs). Scientists have long sought to overcome the dark exciton.
 
“We set out to find new materials in which the exciton ordering is inverted, so that the lowest-energy exciton is bright,” said John Lyons, Ph.D., from the Theory of Advanced Functional Materials Section. “Searching through open-source databases of materials using criteria informed by our theoretical modeling, we identified over 150 targets. We further narrowed this list with advanced first-principles calculations, ending up with 28 candidates for bright-exciton nanomaterials.”
 
More detailed modeling of these materials indicates that at least four can yield bright ground-state excitons in nanocrystals. “This discovery, made in collaboration with Prof. David Norris from Federal Institute of Technology (ETH) Zurich and Peter Sercel, Ph.D., from the Center for Hybrid Organic-Inorganic Semiconductors for Energy (CHOISE), could pave the way for the development of ultrabright and highly efficient light-emitting devices, lasers, and other technologies,” Lyons said.
 
Alexander Efros, Ph.D., a senior scientist, Materials Science division and the senior author on the paper, elaborated on the implications of the research. “In our research, we have identified several bright-exciton materials that can emit light across a broad spectrum, from infrared to ultraviolet,” said Efros. “This versatility makes them very useful for optoelectronic applications. The capability to engineer nanocrystals with bright excitonic states across this wide range opens new avenues for creating better and more efficient LEDs, solar cells, and photodetectors.”
 
By resolving the dark-exciton problem, NRL scientists hope to stimulate the large nanomaterial community to attack bright-exciton nanostructures, an area that has been stalled for too long. Today, three of these materials are being grown at NRL as part of the Nanoscience Institute Program’s Bright Nanocrystal Emitters initiative aiming to conclusively demonstrate bright-exciton behavior in the lab and leverage it for future naval technologies.
 
“Our findings demonstrate the power of combining high-throughput computational screening, pen-and-paper theory, and high-accuracy calculations of electronic structure” said Michael Swift, Ph.D. “No one technique would be enough on its own, but together we discovered new ultrabright nanocrystals and unlocked the power of the bright exciton across unexplored classes of materials.”
 
The Theory of Advanced Functional Materials Section performs basic and applied research on functional, structural, biological, and electronic materials systems. The Section pioneers new methods for simulating materials and systems, including original development of computational and theoretical techniques, modification of existing approaches, and application of established methodologies to new materials and areas. The goal of the Section is to use theory and simulation to understand, improve and develop materials of present and future naval importance.
 
 
About the U.S. Naval Research Laboratory

NRL is a scientific and engineering command dedicated to research that drives innovative advances for the U.S. Navy and Marine Corps from the seafloor to space and in the information domain. NRL is located in Washington, D.C. with major field sites in Stennis Space Center, Mississippi; Key West, Florida; Monterey, California, and employs approximately 3,000 civilian scientists, engineers and support personnel.

For more information, contact NRL Corporate Communications at (202) 480-3746 or nrlpao@us.navy.mil. 

Source: United States Navy

WAVES allowed women to enlist or commission in the Navy in a variety of career fields, ranging from clerical and hospital work, to military intelligence, cryptography and parachute rigging.

More than 100,000 women served in WAVES during World War II.

Of the approximately 438,000 Americans who serve in the Navy today, about a third of them serve in the Navy Reserve, 19% of which are women, in every career field.

In honor of the 82nd anniversary of the creation of WAVES, Naval Information Warfare Center (NIWC) Atlantic celebrates one of its newest Navy Reserve augmentees: Intelligence Specialist 1st Class Petty Officer (IS1) Sarah Redsicker, a woman whose budding career is marked by dedication and achievement, honoring the legacy of the first WAVES Reserve Sailors.

Over the past year, Redsicker, a member of the NIWC Atlantic Cybersecurity Service Provider (CSSP) Integrated Product Team (IPT), has not only achieved career milestones, but also, embraced personal triumphs that define her resilience and dedication to service.

From a recent high-flying reenlistment with the Blue Angels to leading critical cybersecurity training exercises, Redsicker’s naval journey is one of unwavering commitment and profound impact.

A native of Chili, New York and a 2016 graduate of Gates Chili High School, Redsicker joined the Navy Reserves in 2017 with a clear vision of contributing meaningfully to national security. She was driven to join by her interest in digital forensics and a desire to make a lasting impact on the world.

“I always dreamed of doing something in the criminal justice or cybersecurity fields and had this end goal to one day work with NCIS,” Redsicker said. “I wanted to do something that would make not only my family proud but also myself proud.”

Choosing the Navy Reserve allowed Redsicker to remain close to her family in Rochester, New York while actively contributing to military operations. Her decision to join the military was also influenced by a family legacy of service; her grandfather served in the Army during the Korean War.

Initially slated to serve as a Master-at-Arms (MA), her path quickly shifted toward Intelligence Specialist (IS) after excelling on the Armed Services Vocational Aptitude Battery (ASVAB).
Choosing the IS rating aligned more closely with her career aspirations and offered opportunities for professional growth.

She attended boot camp in 2018, followed by four months of ‘A’ school to learn the fundamentals of intelligence operations, then four more months of ‘C’ school for more specialized training.

After this significant training, her career trajectory took a pivotal turn when she accepted Active Duty for Special Work (ADSW) orders in Rome, New York, where she discovered her passion for intelligence operations. She also earned her Information Warfare (IW) qualification within three months of being on orders and assisted two other Sailors’ qualification in the IW program soon after.

“I learned the ins and outs of my rate and fell in love with intel,” said Redsicker. “It was a career field I knew I wanted to stay in and excel as best I could.”

Following the ADSW assignment, Redsicker worked with the Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA) and National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency (NGA), gaining experience that set the stage for her current role with the NIWC Atlantic CSSP in Charleston, South Carolina.

CSSP supports warfighters by protecting communications, defending against cyber-attacks, protecting critical infrastructure and supporting intelligence operations. The team provides incident response to quickly respond to and contain cyber incidents, minimizing the impact on operations and maintaining the integrity of critical systems.

Shortly after starting orders in Charleston, Lt. Cmdr. Daniel Kapral, portfolio manager for the CSSP’s Navy and Combatant Command (COCOM) customer portfolio, explained to Redsicker the command’s vision of aligning the Reserve Naval Warfare (NAVWAR) Cyber Pillar Unit with NIWC Atlantic. This partnership would provide additional skills and knowledge resources to the CSSP, especially when responding to significant cyber incidents.

“The ultimate goal was to have the unit split into supplementing roles to support the CSSP in the event that we experience a cyber incident,” said Redsicker. “In order for that to happen, we needed to identify the positions that Reserve Sailors could fill, and then work to train them.”

As her mentor, Kapral played a pivotal role in her career, facilitating her transition to active duty and fostering her interest in cybersecurity through specialized training and operational support.

“Being one of four Navy individuals in uniform within the CSSP, he took the time to really teach me the ropes of what it meant to be a part of an organization that is known for its ability to defend and monitor networks,” said Redsicker. “He introduced me to the CSSP’s Cyber Threat Intelligence team, and helped me secure a spot in the Cyber Threat Intelligence ‘C’ school that I had been wanting to go to since it first came out.”

The Cyber Threat Intelligence ‘C’ school was two months of specialized training to empower Redsicker with the skills to provide government oversight to the CSSP Cyber Threat Intelligence team.

Redsicker also participated in two weeks of NAVWAR Cyber Pillar CSSP Annual Training (AT). By the next AT period, a month later, Redsicker helped develop and deliver training material to teach the Reservists joining their team.

“I learned a lot by teaching others,” said Redsicker. “Fast forward to now and I have a really good understanding of our work here at the CSSP – enough so to lead trainings for others and get them qualified to meet the cyber mission for their unit.”

In October 2023, Redsicker presented two intelligence briefs at the NAVWAR Cyber Pillar Gibson Castle 23, a four-day exercise that focused on operational and tactical strategies for the unit’s cybersecurity analysts. This exercise emulated what analysts on the NIWC Atlantic CSSP operations watch floor perform during a real-world cybersecurity breach.

Two months later, in December 2023, Redsicker was frocked to petty officer first class. Kapral pinned Redsicker with her new insignia during a ceremony in front of her peers at NIWC Atlantic’s headquarters building.

“Her frocking signaled not only recognition of her skills and dedication, but also marked the beginning of new responsibilities, increased expectations and leadership roles, which she handled with grace,” said her partner of four years, ISC (Chief/E-7) Andrew Brooker, also a Reserve Sailor, whom she met while on ADSW orders in Rome, New York. “It’s a testament to her resilience and ability to manage multiple responsibilities.”

Beyond her professional endeavors, Redsicker’s experienced significant personal milestones in 2023 as well.

Two weeks after her frocking, on December 26, she and Brooker welcomed a baby boy, requiring her to balance the demands of motherhood with her robust military career. With inspiration born from watching Redsicker grow exponentially, both personally and professionally, Brooker has become her biggest advocate.

“Andrew has always been a huge supporter of my career and was ecstatic when I got an offer to go back on active duty and learn a different field than what I had done previously,” Redsicker said. “Because he is also Navy, he understands what it means going from Reserves to full time and he was able to help me through that transition. Originally, I had wanted to get out of the Navy after this enlistment, but with the help and encouragement of not only him, but also the NIWC Atlantic command and my friends and family – I made the decision to stay in.”

With this support in mind, Redsicker decided to reenlist for three more years of service.

She asked Kapral to reenlist her while mid-flight aboard one of the prestigious Blue Angels’ aircrafts, the iconic “Fat Albert” C-130.

“He has made the biggest impact on me and my career since coming on active-duty orders,” Redsicker said. “His support and encouragement has helped shape my path in cybersecurity and intelligence operations, and changed my entire perspective on the Navy.”

The Blue Angels are an elite demonstration squadron renowned for its aerial acrobatics and precision flying. In a momentous event high above the clouds, Redsicker raised her right hand to reaffirm her oath to support and defend the Constitution of the United States. By doing so, Redsicker fulfilled a childhood dream inspired by her father’s admiration for the Blue Angels.

“Growing up, my dad was always a huge fan of the Blue Angels, so naturally, that spilled over to me and we both always went to the airshows to see them,” Redsicker explained. “I don’t think we will ever get tired of watching them fly around and the maneuvers they do are beyond impressive. I was over the moon happy and excited. It was absolutely amazing.”

Redsicker’s dad, Robert Redsicker, traveled all the way from Chili, New York with Redsicker’s childhood friend, Rachael Zielke, to watch his daughter fly in “Fat Albert” from the ground.

“In the past year alone, my daughter’s achievements have been nothing short of impressive,” said Robert. “She was promoted to the rank of IS1 and recognized for her leadership and expertise within her field, and not everyone gets the opportunity to go up in the Fat Albert C-130, let alone be able to dangle their feet out of the aircraft, then reenlisting mid-flight. I couldn’t be any more proud.”

While Redsicker’s father was originally worried about his daughter joining the military, she believes that her continued success has only increased his pride in her.

“Because I was an only child, he was not a huge fan of the idea of his daughter joining the military at first,” said Redsicker. “After some time and realizing how enthusiastic and excited I was about it, he finally shared the pride and excitement that I felt. By the time I had to leave for boot camp, he was thrilled and extremely proud of me. He has always supported me one hundred percent ever since, so to be able to have him watch me reenlist with the Blue Angels was the highlight of my career.”

That statement is significant, considering all that she’s accomplished in such a short amount of time.

Just a week prior to her reenlistment, Redsicker was presented a Navy and Marine Corps Achievement Medal (NAM) for her work within the CSSP, underlining her dedication to protecting critical information systems and enhancing cyber defense capabilities.

“Her role in helping us organize our cybersecurity exercises and training future Reservists underscores her commitment to preparing the next generation for the challenges of modern warfare,” said Kapral. “Her journey serves as an inspiration to both men and women in the fields of cybersecurity, military service, and Naval Reserves, proving that with determination and support, anything is possible.”

As she reflects on her journey so far, Redsicker said she is grateful for the opportunities the Navy Reserve has provided her. Looking ahead, she said she aims to continue her career progression within the Navy and earn a bachelor’s degree in criminal justice with a focus on digital forensics from the American Military University. As part of that future, her plans include commissioning as an officer and leading future generations of Sailors.

She hopes her story serves as a testament to the limitless possibilities within the military and serves as a beacon of hope and determination for future generations of service members, especially for those who serve in the Reserves.

“I hope that my achievements in leadership, cybersecurity, and personal milestones, inspire and empower others, hopefully leaving an indelible mark on the Navy Reserve and the communities I serve,” Redsicker said.

About NIWC Atlantic
As a part of Naval Information Warfare Systems Command, formerly known as SPAWAR, NIWC Atlantic provides systems engineering and acquisition to deliver information warfare capabilities to the naval, joint and national warfighter through the acquisition, development, integration, production, test, deployment, and sustainment of interoperable command, control, communications, computer, intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance, cyber and information technology capabilities.

Source: United States Navy

Positioned some 200 nautical miles away from land in the Beaufort Sea, standing atop 4 feet of ice over 12,000 feet of water at air temperatures reaching 45 degrees below zero, the four-person team from the school’s Meteorology and Oceanography (METOC) program performed a series of experiments, collecting a trove of data that continues to provide invaluable insights into long-range acoustic propagation under, through and above the Arctic ice.“On a scale of one to 10, I’d put it at an 11,” said retired Navy Cmdr. John Joseph, faculty associate-research in the NPS Department of Oceanography, who led the expedition with Dr. Ben Reeder, a fellow Oceanography research professor.“We were able to accomplish essentially all of our scientific objectives. The data we collected will help us better understand the impact that a changing Arctic has on the Navy’s ASW (anti-submarine warfare) and ISR (intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance) missions.”While on transit in Prudhoe Bay, Alaska, the NPS team was also thrilled to meet with two distinguished NPS alumni who were on their way to observe operations at Ice Camp Whale – Secretary of the Navy Carlos Del Toro, a Space Systems Operations graduate, and aeronautical engineering alumnus Sen. Mark Kelly (D-Ariz.), a NASA Hall of Fame astronaut.

The NPS team’s research efforts directly support the Department of Defense’s recently released 2024 Arctic Strategy, which specifically calls for enhancing air and maritime domain ISR capabilities, advancing analysis to better sense, model and predict changing environmental conditions, as well as increasing “Arctic literacy” and research.

At the time of the strategy’s release, Iris Ferguson, Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Arctic and Global Resilience, emphasized the need to have the right sensing architecture in place.

“We must improve our domain awareness and enhance our ability to detect and respond with our Canadian allies to threats to the homeland,” she said. “A key focus for my office is championing investments that will enhance our awareness of threats in the region.”

Stretching from Maine and the North Atlantic across the Arctic Ocean through the Bering Strait and Alaska in the North Pacific, the Arctic is a region of strategic geopolitical and global importance. It holds an estimated 30 percent of the world’s undiscovered gas reserves, 13 percent of its conventional oil reserves and $1 trillion worth of rare earth minerals. Despite having our planet’s smallest ocean, it has the potential to connect nearly 75 percent of the earth’s population.

This will especially be the case in the coming decades, as rapidly melting sea ice and increasingly navigable Arctic waters – which the Navy termed a “Blue Arctic” in its 2021 Strategic Blueprint for the Arctic – creates both challenges and opportunities. Chief among these challenges are the threats posed from rising maritime activity by Russia and China, which are posturing their navies to pursue nationalist agendas across the region.

“Our world’s changing climate brings with it increased access to shipping lanes that are normally frozen over for long periods of time, as well as access to undersea resources for further exploration,” Del Toro noted in early 2024. “It is imperative that we ensure our approach to operating in the Arctic focuses on our combined resiliency in the region, and preserves our ability to freely maneuver in a contested maritime domain.”

Since 1946, Operation Ice Camp has served as a central pillar of America’s role in the Arctic. Previously known as Ice Exercise (ICEX), the three-week event was elevated to an operation in 2024 to better reflect the Navy’s prioritization of the region. It is designed to research, test and evaluate operational capabilities in the Arctic region to maintain an enhanced Arctic presence, strengthen alliances and partnerships, and build a more capable Arctic naval force.

ASL serves as the lead organization for coordinating, planning and executing the operation.

Centered on its temporary command center Ice Camp Whale, Operation Ice Camp 2024 involved more than 200 participants from across the U.S. armed forces and the military services of partner nations, including representatives from the Royal Canadian Air Force, Royal Canadian Navy, French Navy, the United Kingdom’s Royal Navy and the Royal Australian Navy.

“Ice Camp Whale provides our teams the opportunity to conduct their research in one of the harshest and most demanding environments in the world,” said ASL director Howard Reese during the operation’s launch. “We are responsible for developing and maintaining the expertise to allow the Submarine Force to safely and effectively operate in this unique environment. We are able to take what we learn from this environment and apply the lessons to real world operations.”

Joseph and Reeder have participated in the event since 2016. For the most recent iteration in March 2024, they were joined by two METOC students, Navy Lt. Cmdr. Colleen Wilmington and Lt. Cmdr. Taylor Hudson. The research the team conducted directly folds into their respective graduate theses.

“Our focus has always been to go up there and understand how the changing Arctic is affecting ASW type of operations,” said Joseph. “Our lab is primarily focused on underwater acoustics.”

In 2023, they built a device they term a cryophone, which functions like a hydrophone frozen in the ice. The cryophone is capable of 360 degrees of detection of acoustic wave propagation below, through and above the ice, through three media (water, ice and air).

“Basically, they’re accelerometers grounded to a plate which then gets embedded in the ice and frozen in, which makes the ice part of the system,” Joseph explained. “What we found out is that sound which is transmitted under the ice also propagates into the ice, which can be received by these cryophones on top of the ice.”

Having a cryophone sit on top of the ice has multiple advantages, he noted.

In addition to communication possibilities, the instrument can collect and disseminate position, location and various data critical to the Navy’s ASW and ISR mission sets. The cryophones can be used to provide this information on underwater sound sources, identify aircraft flying overhead, and even hear the sounds of people walking across the ice.

Much of the team’s research this spring was devoted to testing out the cryophones’ capabilities. In the process, they investigated how they could use the instrument to acoustically derive properties of the ice itself – how hard and thick it is, for example.

“This is useful information in doing Arctic operations,” Joseph said. “A submarine coming to the surface, for instance, may want to know something about the ice above it.”

The Arctic is currently undergoing profound environmental changes and will be for the foreseeable future. Understanding these changes in detail – especially how they affect acoustic propagation through water and ice – is critical to the Navy’s operations in the region.

Using a device called a CTD (Conductivity, Temperature and Depth), the NPS team was able to strategically measure and track changes in temperature and salinity in the vicinity of the Ice Camp.  These parameters affect the way sound propagates through the ocean

“We found that the biggest challenge up there is the effects of a slug of water that is coming through the Bering Strait; it’s especially warm and salty,” Joseph said. “Because it’s warm, it increases the speed of sound and because it’s salty, it sinks under the surface layer.”

“In doing so, it sets up this very strong subsurface duct which brings with it a significant change in acoustic propagation,” he continued. “This has been of very high interest to us.”

For Wilmington and Hudson, the data the team collected was a veritable gold mine for their theses.

“I think it’s a really unique opportunity to be able to go up and collect your own data,” said Wilmington. “The amount of data that we collected across our five days there provides more than enough data to analyze for the next 10 years!”

For her graduate thesis, Wilmington will use the data to focus on using acoustics to determine properties of ice.

“I’m looking at the ice density, the ice flexural strength and actual ice age, and then being able to use these to feed into modeling programs to determine what the ice melt is going to look like, as well as informing the National Ice Center to enable ships – especially ice breakers – to transit on the path of least resistance where it’s easiest to break the ice,” she explained.

Additionally, Wilmington plans to use the data to refine NPS’ Regional Arctic System Model (RASM), an ice model with a six-month outlook – the only model that forecasts that far out.

“I’ll be using the acoustic propagation through the X, Y and Z planes and comparing it to data collected through hydrophones and microphones, and then comparing that to the RASM to see if we can prove it,” she added. “RASM has been online for many years, but it’s still considered an experimental model per se. If I can use this data to prove that RASM is generally right, then it can be advertised as an operational model.”

With the Arctic becoming a contested region, having this information will allow more vessels to safely transit the region. The U.S. Coast Guard has a limited number of ice breakers, so knowing and being able to predict thinner ice that bow-strengthened surface vessels can potentially go through without an ice-breaker escort would vastly improve U.S. operability in the Arctic.

“If we can forecast the thickness and density of the ice and safely get units through, or be able to at least know where we station our ice breakers, it would assist our commerce and our ships’ traffic ability,” Wilmington said.

The expedition was a boon for Hudson as well. For his graduate thesis work, Hudson’s focus is on refining the cryophones’ capabilities for over-, under- and through-the-ice acoustic work.

“It was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity,” he said. “We are focusing on sound above, captured in the air, and also through the ice using tactile sound transducers, as well as monitoring undersea sounds. Using the cryophone, what we want to do is capture the longitudinal, the shear and flexural waves of sound through the ice. If we can see all three of those, we can limit the amount of equipment that we actually need.”

To do so, the team collected three types of data sources to test the cryophones: impulsive, such as the sound of an imploding light bulb as it sinks into the depths of the ocean; coherent, such as sounds emitted by tactile transducers; as well as following mobile sources such as from MK 39 Expendable Mobile Anti-Submarine Warfare Training Targets (EMATT).

What draws Hudson to this research is its operationally relevant nature. As a 27-year veteran of the Navy, including time as an enlisted sailor, he is thrilled to be working on something so potentially impactful.

Theoretically, he said, the cryophones are small enough to be deployed en masse from a P-8A Poseidon type of aircraft for rapid response, landing on the ice and melting themselves in to immediately begin listening in under the ice.

“Our work on the cryophones could potentially lead to an actual usable sensor that would bring an entire platform of P-8s back into the ASW fight in the Arctic,” Hudson said. “The fact that we are actually working on something that’s truly operationally relevant to the Navy is what gets me excited.”