Advanced piezoelectric symposium offers key capability insights
In October 2024, DMTC’s Advanced Piezoelectric Materials and Applications (APMA) Program held its annual symposium at the Australian Nuclear Science and Technology Organisation’s (ANSTO) innovation centre, nandin. This event brought together APMA Program partners, industry and Defence stakeholders, as well as PhD students and early career researchers (ECRs) integrated within project teams across the Program.
This symposium covered a wide array of Defence and technical program updates. This included a strategic update from Defence, an update from Thales on their Single Crystal Foundry, research progress from PhDs and ECRs, insights from the U.S. Office of Naval Research (ONR) and Office of Naval Research Global and an overview of Australian Defence Export Controls.
Highlights included Defence’s overview of continued efforts to invest in advanced capabilities and the importance of programs like APMA to the delivery of Australia’s National Defence mission, a brief from Thales on their now operational Single Crystal Foundry that is producing single crystal piezoelectrics at a pilot scale, ONRs technical overview of the use of single crystal piezoelectrics in the design of next generation transducers and the increasingly important topic of Defence Trade Controls including information sharing regulations.
The program was concluded with a wide-ranging discussion of the APMA Program’s long-term strategic plan as it shifts focus toward the integration of sovereign grown single crystal piezoelectrics into defence applications.
Attendees appreciated the opportunity to connect face-to-face with national and international counterparts and stakeholders, with these discussions playing a pivotal role in the event’s overall success.
The APMA Program, led by DMTC and supported by DSTG and ASCA through its Emerging and Disruptive Technologies (EDT) stream, is a long-term strategic collaborative effort between Defence, DMTC, industry and the research sector to ensure the security of supply of advanced single crystal piezoelectric materials for defence applications.
More information about the APMA Program is available on pages 19-20 of DMTC’s 2024 Annual Report.
Dr Harold Robinson from Office of Naval Research, US, presenting at the APMA Symposium.