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

SBIR 第一阶段：具有超宽调谐范围的低成本自适应电可调谐激光器

• 批准号: 0339684
• 负责人: Le Li
• 金额: $ 9.99万
• 依托单位: Kent Optronics, Inc.
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2004
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2004-01-01 至 2004-06-30
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=0339684&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: SBIR; Phase; Low; Cost; Adaptive

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

这个小型企业创新研究 (SBIR) 第一阶段项目是对由新型液晶可调谐光子晶体 (TPC) 制成的电可调谐激光器的可行性研究。根据理论模型和实验结果预测，激光波长的调谐是通过调节TPC阻带来实现的。当掺杂激光染料并由泵浦激光器泵浦时，预计会在 200 nm 的宽光谱范围内产生电可调谐激光。这些激光器采用坚固、轻质、紧凑且低成本的封装，预计光转换效率将超过 20%。第一阶段的工作致力于开发可调谐激光器，然后通过研究激光作用和影响激光性能的来源来提高性能。此外，还将探讨使用其他泵浦源的可行性。由于自适应性质和低成本特征，新的可调谐激光技术有望成为一种强大的工具，可以立即将固定波长激光或其他不相干光源转变为电可调谐激光源，用于各种商业/太空/法律/军事应用。对于一定的光谱覆盖范围，单个激光器可以替代多个激光器，以降低系统成本。接下来，将为取景器、相机和摄像机的小型显示面板创建新的显示产品。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组件。在电信领域，使用可调谐激光器将节省元件库存成本。在法医领域，可调谐激光技术的出现使得小型化激光窃听系统能够监控对话。在天文学中，可调谐激光器对于钠导星激光器非常重要。它们也是场景模拟的有力工具，广泛应用于军事单位以降低成本