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Air Force funds DSU research

Delaware Public Media

The United States Air Force is funding research at Delaware State University to make better night vision cameras.

Dr. Mukti Rana is chair of the DSU Department of Physics and Engineering. He is layering extremely thin materials, like molybdenum disulphide, and studying their optical and electrical properties.

“So, in other words, we’re trying to vary one layers, two layers, three layers and ten layers for instance and seeing how it’s going to affect those optical properties,” said Rana

The U-S Air Force is paying $450 thousand to see if these materials could be used to replace current night vision technology which is bulky and makes noise.

Rana is working on other projects for NASA and the U.S. Navy, but calls this work for the Air Force quite interesting.

“I hope that this will add value to the optical detection and sensing area, in particular for the national defense and security of our country,” said Rana.

Rana says the new dollars will first go towards making more molybdenum disulphide so it can be observed under a high powered microscope. He adds these materials could also be used to increase the battery life of laptops and handheld devices, as well as add memory space to smaller devices.