Rads To Watts Proposers Day

Background
The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) Defense Sciences Office (DSO) is sponsoring a Proposers Day to provide information to potential proposers on the objectives of an anticipated solicitation for the Rads to Watts program.

The goal of this program is to identify and develop technologies for high-power direct energy conversion of nuclear radiation into electricity, particularly focusing on scaling up radiovoltaics to kilowatt power levels. This initiative aims to engage the research community, including industry, academia, and government, in understanding the program's vision and mechanics.

Work Details
The Rads to Watts (R2W) program will explore innovative approaches that enable revolutionary advances in high-fluence-resilient, radiation-hardened materials and techniques specifically for radiovoltaics.

Proposed work should aim to produce a proof-of-concept radiovoltaic unit cell that can scale to a high-power form factor. The unit cell must include fundamental sections such as the charge generation region (CGR), charge collection region (CCR), and the source or radiation-emitting region. Technologies developed under R2W are expected to support operations in harsh environments where traditional power sources are not feasible. DARPA encourages teaming arrangements among organizations with relevant expertise for executing this research and development program.

Period of Performance
The anticipated solicitation for the Rads to Watts program is expected to be released in June 2025, with activities related to the Proposers Day occurring on June 20, 2025.

Place of Performance
The Proposers Day will be held in Arlington, VA.