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Core Competencies

Microdevices Laboratory

MDL is a JPL institutional facility chartered to create, develop, deliver, and integrate novel and critical microdevice technologies enabling instruments and missions that contribute to the diverse and bold portfolio of JPL and NASA science missions.

Overview

The Microdevices Laboratory invents and develops a broad spectrum of unique flight-worthy micro-devices that enable a wide variety of instruments and missions across the full range of JPL's activities in earth science, planetary exploration, and astrophysics and cosmology.

MDL's extraordinary microdevices and nanotechnologies have enabled JPL and NASA to carry out new types of observations and measurements in space and Earth science missions over the past two decades. Examples like multiblaze diffraction gratings used in spectrometers to understand our changing planet, thermopile detectors used to characterize Mars and Moon, or spider web bolometers used to study distant galaxies and study the beginning of star formation.

MDL's uniqueness resides in the highly talented technical staff and the facility's flexibility and diversity of operations for innovative work but with the controls necessary to allow flight deliverables.

MICRODEVICES LABORATORY

Core Competencies

Image from MDL Core Competency: Mid-Infrared Detectors

Mid-Infrared Detectors

Innovations at MDL by the Infrared Photonics Technology Group enable observations of our planet in specific infrared regions, as well as mapping of the world's ecosystems, defense, cloud structures, and natural disasters...

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Image from MDL Core Competency: UV-Visible Detectors & Systems

UV-Visible Detectors & Systems

Advances generated at MDL will extend our vision to unprecedented sensitivities, enabling future discoveries and capabilities...

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Image from MDL Core Competency: Submillimeter Devices

Submillimeter Devices

Researchers in submillimeter-wave advanced technology at JPL specialize in developing and implementing submillimeter-wave and terahertz remotesensing technologies for a variety of applications...

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Image from MDL Core Competency: Superconducting Devices

Superconducting Devices

The possible detection of an imprint by inflation on the polarization of the cosmic microwave background (CMB) excited both astrophysicists and the general public around the world in March 2014 when BICEP2 published its results...

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Image from MDL Core Competency: Semiconductor Lasers

Semiconductor Lasers

Over the last two decades, semiconductor lasers have improved in performance to above-room-temperature operation with high output power (tens of milliwatts), low power consumption (less than a watt), and cover a wide...

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Image from MDL Core Competency: Diffractive Optics

Diffractive Optics

The Microdevices Laboratory develops electron-beam lithography techniques to fabricate unique nanostructures and optics that enable JPL instruments to perform novel measurements and achieve unmatched performance...

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Image from MDL Core Competency: Imaging Spectroscopy

Imaging Spectroscopy

At the most basic molecular level, all life on Earth is fundamentally the same, constructed from a relatively small set of chemical building blocks. By analyzing the distributions of organic molecules on other worlds, we can search...

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Image from MDL Core Competency: Broadband Thermal Detectors

Broadband Thermal Detectors

At the most basic molecular level, all life on Earth is fundamentally the same, constructed from a relatively small set of chemical building blocks. By analyzing the distributions of organic molecules on other worlds, we can search...

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Image from MDL Core Competency: MEMS

MEMS

The past year has been the "delivery" year for nano and micro systems. This is the most satisfying aspect of applied research, where a new technology is nurtured from its conception to a field-test-ready product, or in some cases...

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Image from MDL Core Competency: In Situ Instruments

In Situ Instruments

At the most basic molecular level, all life on Earth is fundamentally the same, constructed from a relatively small set of chemical building blocks. By analyzing the distributions of organic molecules on other worlds, we can search...

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Image from MDL Core Competency: Microfabrication Technologies

Microfabrication Technologies

Since its inception, the Microdevices Laboratory (MDL) and its precursor entities, not surprisingly, has depended on state-of-the-art technologies to create its outstanding micro-electronic products. This process of updating to stay...

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Image from MDL Core Competency: Infrastructure & Equipment

Infrastructure & Equipment

The sophisticated semiconductor processing that takes place in the MDL requires complex integrated building systems and equipment. These closely monitored state-of-the-art capabilities installed in ultraclean environments form...

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