SBIR Phase I: Low Cost Adaptive Electrically Tunable Lasers with Ultra-Wide Tuning Range

这个小型企业创新研究(SBIR)第一阶段项目是对由新型液晶基可调谐光子晶体(TPC)制造的电调谐激光器的可行性研究。理论模型和实验结果表明，激光波长的调谐是通过调谐TPC阻带来实现的。当掺入激光染料(S)，在泵浦激光泵浦时，有望在200 nm的宽光谱范围内实现电调谐激光。激光器还有望在坚固、轻便、紧凑和低成本的封装中具有超过20%的光对光效率。第一阶段致力于发展可调谐激光器，然后通过研究激光作用和影响激光性能的源来提高性能。此外，还将探讨使用其他泵源的可行性。由于自适应特性和低成本的特点，新的可调谐激光技术有望为各种商业/空间/法律/军事应用提供一种强大的工具，将固定波长的激光或其他非相干光源立即转变为电可调谐激光光源。在一定的频谱覆盖范围内，一台激光器可以替代多台激光器，从而降低系统成本。下一步，将为取景器、相机和摄像机的小型显示面板创建一种新的显示产品。在军事和执法方面，主动光模块和可调谐激光光源是光探测和测距(LIDAR)、瞄准、测量、成像、遥感和显示设备的关键部件。在电信领域，可调谐激光器的使用将节省零部件库存成本。在法医领域，可调谐激光技术的出现使小型激光窃听系统能够监控对话。在天文学中，可调谐激光器对钠导星激光器很重要。同时也是军事单位为降低成本而广泛应用的视景仿真的有力工具

This Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase I project is a feasibility study on electrically tunable lasers made from novel liquid crystal based tunable photonic crystals (TPC). As predicted by a theoretical model and experiment results, the tuning of the laser wavelength is realized via tuning the TPC stop band. When doped with lasing dye(s) and pumped by a pumping laser, electrically tunable lasing is expected over a wide spectral range of 200 nm. The lasers are also expected to have greater than 20% light-to-light efficiency in a robust, lightweight, compact, and low cost package. The Phase I effort is devoted to developing tunable lasers followed by performance improvement by researching the lasing action and the sources affecting the lasing performance. In addition, the feasibility of using other pumping sources will be explored. Due to the adaptive nature and low cost feature, the new tunable laser technology promises a powerful tool that instantly turns fixed wavelength laser or other incoherent light source into an electrically tunable laser source for various commercial/space/law/military applications. A single laser can replace multiple lasers for a certain spectral coverage to reduce the system cost. Next, a new display product will be created for viewfinder, small display panels for cameras and camcorder. In military and law enforcement side, active light modules and tunable laser sources are crucial components in Light Detection And Ranging (LIDAR), targeting, measuring, imaging, remote sensing, and display devices. In telecom, the use of tunable laser will save components inventory cost. In forensic, the advent of the tunable laser technology enables a miniaturization laser eavesdropping system to monitor conversations. In astronomy, tunable lasers are important for a sodium guide star laser. They are also power tools for scene simulation that is widely applied in military unit for cost reduction