Patents

Joseph P. Fitch, Karla Hagans, Robert Cough, Dennis L. Matthews, Abraham P. Lee, Peter A. Krulevitch, William J. Benett, Luiz Da Silva, and Peter M. Celliers
Microminiaturized Minimally Invasive Intravascular Micromechanical Systems Powered and Controlled via Fiber-optic Cable
U.S. Patent 5,722,989
March 3, 1998
A micromechanical system for medical procedures constructed in the basic form of a catheter with a distal end for insertion into and manipulation within a body and a near end with which a user controls the manipulation of the distal end. At the near end, a fiber-optic cable within the catheter couples external laser light energy to a microgripper at the distal end for gripping or releasing objects within the body. A converter receives laser light and mechanically actuates the microgripper.

Stephen E. Sampayan
Pulsed Hybrid Field Emitter
U.S. Patent 5,723,954
March 3, 1998
A hybrid emitter that exploits the electric field created by a rapidly depoled ferroelectric material. Combining the emission properties of a planar, thin-film diamond emitter with a ferroelectric material alleviates problems associated with both types of emitters and provides a robust, long-lived, high-current-density cathode of the type required by emerging microwave power-generation, accelerator-technology, and display applications. This hybrid emitter is easy to fabricate, is not susceptible to common failures of conventional field emitters, and does not require specialized phosphors if used in flat-panel displays.

Detlev H. Tiszauer and Lloyd A. Hackel
Speckle Averaging System for Laser Raster-Scan Image Projection
U.S. Patent 5,729,374
March 17, 1998
A system that eliminates the effects of laser speckle from a laser projection system while preserving the depth of focus of the system and without introducing spurious viewing effects. The viewer's perception of speckle from a laser-generated image projection system is modified or eliminated by the addition of an optical deflection system (composed of one moving mirror and one stationary conical optic) that effectively presents a new speckle realization at each point on the viewing screen to each viewer for every scan across the field.

John F. Holzrichter and Lawrence C. Ng
Speech Coding, Reconstruction and Recognition Using Acoustics and Electromagnetic Waves
U.S. Patent 5,729,694
March 17, 1998
A complete mathematical coding of acoustic speech enabled by the use of electromagnetic radiation in conjunction with simultaneously recorded acoustic speech information. A feature vector is formed for each period of voiced, unvoiced, and combined voiced and unvoiced speech. The coding includes how to deconvolve the speech excitation function from the acoustic speech output to describe the transfer function of each time frame. Applications include speech coding, compression, synthesis, recognition, and translation.

Robert F. Keville and Daniel D. Dietrich
Miniature Piezo Electric Vacuum Inlet Valve
U.S. Patent 5,730,417
March 24, 1998
A miniature piezoelectric, battery-operated vacuum inlet valve. The low-power (less than 1.5 watts), high-pulse-rate (less than 2 milliseconds) variable-flow inlet valve can be used for mass spectroscopy and other applications in which pulsed or continuous-flow conditions are needed. The valve is smaller than conventional piezoelectric valves by a factor of three and uses a 12-volt dc input/750-volt dc, 3-milliamphere output power supply.

Joe N. Lucas, Tore Straume, and Kenneth T. Bogen
Identification of Random Nucleic Acid Sequence Aberrations Using Dual Capture Probes Which Hybridize to Different Chromosome Regions
U.S. Patent 5,731,153
March 24, 1998
A method for detecting nucleic-acid sequence aberrations using a two-step immobilization process. Immobilization of a first hybridization probe is used to isolate a first set of nucleic acids in a sample that contains the first nucleic-acid sequence type. Immobilization of a second hybridization probe is then used to isolate a second set of nucleic acids from within the first set of nucleic acids, which contain the second nucleic-acid sequence type. The second set is then detected, its presence indicating the presence of a nucleic-acid sequence aberration.

Richard Pekala and Lawrence W. Hrubesh
Compression Molding of Aerogel Microspheres
U.S. Patent 5,731,360
March 24, 1998
An aerogel composite material produced by compression molding of aerogel microspheres (powders) mixed with a small percentage of polymer binder to form monolithic shapes. The mixture is placed in a mold, heated, and pressurized to a density of 50 to 800 kilograms per cubic meter. The resulting aerogels have cost-effective applications such as thermal insulation, filtration, inertial confinement targets, and double-layer capacitors.

Dennis O'Brien, Robert L. Druce, Gary W. Johnson, George E. Vogtlin, Troy W. Barbee, Jr., and Ronald S. Lee
Method and System for Making Integrated Solid-State Fire-Sets and Detonators
U.S. Patent 5,731,538
March 24, 1998
A microminiature slapper detonator comprising a solid-state, high-voltage capacitor, a low-jitter dielectric breakdown switch and trigger circuitry, a detonator transmission line, an exploding foil bridge, and a flier material. These components are fabricated using thin-film deposition techniques into a single, solid-state device that is safe, reliable, and inexpensive to manufacture.

Charles Vann
Laser Pulse Sampler
U.S. Patent 5,732,172
March 24, 1998
A device for measuring the temporal shape of a laser pulse without the digital sampling and expensive components needed for measuring with a streak camera. The laser pulse directly illuminates a camera in the laser pulse sampler, making the sampler easier to calibrate and maintain because there is only one energy conversion-photons to electrons. The sampler's dynamic range is limited only by the range of its camera, which can be as high as 16 bits.