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

这个小企业创新研究（SBIR）一期项目是一项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，激光波长的调谐可以通过调谐TPC阻带来实现。当掺杂激光染料并由泵浦激光器泵浦时，有望在200 nm的宽光谱范围内实现电可调谐激光。该激光器还有望具有超过20%的光对光效率，并且具有坚固、轻便、紧凑和低成本的封装。第一阶段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源来提高性能。此外，还将探讨使用其他抽水水源的可行性。由于自适应性质和低成本的特点，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非相干光源转变为各种商业/空间/法律/军事应用的电可调谐激光源。在一定的光谱覆盖范围内，单个激光器可以代替多个激光器，从而降低系统成本。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部件。在电信行业，可调谐激光器的使用将节省元器件的库存成本。在司法鉴定领域，可调谐激光技术的出现，使小型化的激光窃听系统得以监控对话。在天文学中，可调谐激光器对于钠导星激光器非常重要。它们也是场景仿真的动力工具，被广泛应用于军事单位以降低成本

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