Story ideas from Oak Ridge National Laboratory

Story Tips Story ideas from Oak Ridge National Laboratory

February 1998

Story ideas from Oak Ridge National Laboratory To arrange for an interview with any of these researchers, please call Ron Walli of Communications and Public Affairs (423) 576-0226

NIGHT VISION -- Military and beyond

A new breed of uncooled infrared detectors developed at ORNL holds great promise for military, law enforcement, medical and commercial night vision applications. The ORNL technology represents the first true uncooled infrared photon detection. These new detectors make possible infrared imaging approaching the high sensitivity and speed of larger and more expensive cooled infrared detectors.

ENERGY -- Lighting tomorrow's way

ORNL's hybrid lighting technology is among 25 chosen as Industry Week's Technologies of the Year for 1997. Proponents of hybrid lighting say the technology could reduce the nation's annual use of energy for lighting by 50 percent by 2020, saving $20 billion per year. Hybrid lighting would combine natural and artificial light by using collectors to capture sunlight and waveguides to transmit the light to special fixtures. These fixtures, which can be used throughout buildings or outdoors, would be fitted with fluorescent tubes and natural light tubes to produce the desired light output while reducing demand for electricity.

COMPUTING -- Passing today's chips

Life aboard a semiconductor chip may become even more crowded -- but more productive -- because of a new lithography process being developed at ORNL. Researchers are devising a chip writing system using a programmable array of millions of electron beams that should result in more transistor circuits crammed into the same space. And that should mean faster calculations. The electron beams allow lithographic etching of the chip to be much narrower than is possible with conventional masking techniques. By reducing the distance that electrons must travel, this system would make chips perform calculations faster while using less power. And it should result in lower costs.