STTR Phase I: A Novel Tunable Dye Laser for Optical Sensing

STTR 第一阶段：用于光学传感的新型可调谐染料激光器

• 批准号: 0539657
• 负责人: Hailiang Zhang
• 金额: $ 9.9万
• 依托单位: Scientific Solutions Incorporated
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2006
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2006-01-01 至 2006-12-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=0539657&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: STTR; Phase; Novel; Tunable; Dye

This Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) Phase I research project proposes a tunable dye laser for optical sensing based on the innovative dye-doped Holographic Polymer Dispersed Liquid Crystals (HPDLC) technology. The demonstration of the tunable lasing of dye-doped HPDLC is the main focus during the Phase I research. By carefully choosing the materials including liquid crystal, polymerizable monomer, emitter dye and optimizing the holographic-writing process, dye-doped HPDLC is formed as an one-dimensional photonic bandgap material, mirrorless lasing in the dye-doped HPDLC occurs at the reflection band edges. Applied voltage tunes the reflection peak of the HPDLC as well as the center wavelength of emitting laser. The whole laser device is solid state and highly resistant to shock and vibration as it has no moving parts. Since the innovative laser device is based on the thin film technology, there is no bulky laser cavity. The manufacturing unit cost of the HPDLC thin film can low due to easy-to-achieve large scale manufacturing that it is economical to throw away and replace a HPDLC thin film device once the dye reaches the end of its life. This innovative tunable laser will have applications in optical sensing in areas such as hyper-spectral medical imaging and bio-imaging where different color signals the biochemical makeup of different regions of tissue, nuclei, cytoplasm, etc. Additionally this laser can be used to create inexpensive and perhaps disposable Raman sensors and imagers for use in the biological, medical and chemical sensing markets. The proposed tunable laser is especially useful in LIDAR, atmospheric sensing and planetary exploration when wavelength agility is required. One specific application is for on-orbit LIDAR systems, for example mapping planetary surfaces because of its great advantage of small size, low weight and shock/vibration resistance. Such a small laser could be used on surface rovers enabling surface Raman spectroscopy and LADAR mapping. In addition, this innovative tunable laser will bring a great improvement in high quality laser display with merits of high color purity and high light intensity. Its role as a tunable signal source in optical communication such as Wavelength Division Multiplexing (WDM) is another commercial application.

这个小企业技术转让（STTR）第一阶段研究项目提出了一种可调谐染料激光器，用于基于创新的染料掺杂全息聚合物分散液晶（HPDLC）技术的光学传感。 染料掺杂HPDLC的可调谐激光的演示是第一阶段研究的主要焦点。通过对液晶、可聚合单体、发光染料等材料的选择以及全息写入工艺的优化，得到了一维光子带隙材料的染料掺杂HPDLC，其反射带边出现了无镜激光。 外加电压调谐HPDLC的反射峰以及发射激光的中心波长。 整个激光设备是固态的，并且高度抗冲击和振动，因为它没有移动部件。 由于创新的激光器件是基于薄膜技术，没有笨重的激光腔。 HPDLC薄膜的制造单位成本可以低，这是由于易于实现大规模制造，一旦染料达到其寿命终点，丢弃和更换HPDLC薄膜装置是经济的。这种创新的可调谐激光器将应用于光学传感领域，如高光谱医学成像和生物成像，其中不同的颜色信号的不同区域的组织，细胞核，细胞质等的生化组成，此外，这种激光器可用于创建廉价的，也许一次性的拉曼传感器和成像器，用于生物，医学和化学传感市场。 当需要波长捷变时，所提出的可调谐激光器在LIDAR、大气传感和行星探测中特别有用。一个具体的应用是用于在轨激光雷达系统，例如，由于其小尺寸、低重量和抗冲击/振动的巨大优势，可以绘制行星表面。 这样的小型激光器可用于表面漫游车，使表面拉曼光谱和激光雷达测绘。 此外，这种创新的可调谐激光器将带来一个伟大的进步，高品质的激光显示与高色纯度和高光强的优点。其在光通信（例如波分复用（WDM））中作为可调谐信号源的作用是另一个商业应用。