Lab researcher honored by New Mexico Business Weekly

John Singleton among this years "Who's Who in Technology"

May 20, 2010—John Singleton of Condensed Matter and Magnet Science was honored recently for his research on practical applications of pulsar physics by New Mexico Business Weekly, which included him in its annual “Who’s Who in Technology” acknowledgment. Singleton was among 28 New Mexicans recognized for making their mark in the technology field. A panel of five technology experts chose the honorees based on their integral contributions to the advancement of technology in New Mexico. Intel, the New Mexico Technology Council, and Sandia National Laboratories’ Small Business Utilization Department sponsor Who’s Who in Technology.

Singleton is the principal investigator of a Los Alamos Laboratory Directed Research and Development (LDRD) project, “Construction and Use of Superluminal Emission Technology Demonstrators with Applications in Radar, Astrophysics, and Secure Communications.” In this context, “superluminal” means a source of radiation that travels faster than the speed of light in a vacuum. He and collaborators are addressing the science of this phenomenon and potentially useful technical applications. The comprehensive project comprises 1) studies of superluminal pulsar sources in astronomy and astrophysics, 2) mathematical/computational studies of superluminal sources, and 3) design and construction of practical machines for applications in radar and communications.

Pulsars are extremely dense, quickly spinning stars that send out a regular, sharp pulse of radiation. The reasons how and why they send these bursts have remained a mystery. However, Singleton, collaborating with Andrea Schmidt of Process Modeling and Analysis, has provided strong support for a pulsar emission mechanism—known as the superluminal model—arising from circulating polarization currents in the pulsar’s plasma atmosphere that travel faster than the speed of light. Although the polarized region can move faster than the speed of light in a vacuum, the velocities of the charged particles that compose these regions do not. Thus, Einstein's theory of Special Relativity is not violated. The fact that the source both moves faster than the speed of light and accelerates results in an electromagnetic equivalent of the “sonic boom” caused by airplanes that accelerate through the speed of sound. By analogy with the sonic boom, the “electromagnetic boom” can cause intense, focused pulses of radiation at very large distances from the pulsar.

Based on this pulsar work, Singleton and colleagues in High Power Electrodynamics have built three practical, ground-based superluminal radiofrequency sources to investigate potential applications in radar, long-range communications using low power, satellites in deep space, secure communications without need for encryption, medical applications, and directed energy. These machines are currently being demonstrated for possible government and industrial sponsors. Their design, construction, and potential applications were the motivations for Singleton’s award.

Collaborators on the superluminal project include Andrea Schmidt, Joseph Fasel III, and David Bizzozero of AET-2; John Middleditch of Information Sciences; Todd Graves of Statistical Sciences; Bill Junor of Space & Remote Sensing; Dale Dalmas, Larry Earley, Ian Higginson, Frank Krawczyk, Quinn Marksteiner, John Quenzer, Bill Romero, and Zhi-fu Wang of ISR-6; Pinaki Sengupta of MPA-CMMS; Mario Perez of NASA; H. Ardavan of Cambridge University, UK; and A. Ardavan of Oxford University, UK. This work supports LANL’s Global Security mission area. John Singleton is the technical contact.