SBIR Phase I: Electro-optic liquid crystal microspectrometers as rapid and inexpensive optical sensors

该小型企业创新研究第一阶段项目将利用当代电光（EO）器件原理（基于独特的液晶材料和配置）开发功能齐全的芯片级光谱仪和高光谱成像设备。液晶材料可用于创建具有窄光学带隙（20 nm）的模拟电光可调谐反射或透射滤波器，当与光电检测器或阵列检测器耦合时，分别创建双组分非色散光谱仪或高光谱成像仪。这种操作模式与显示技术中所需的操作模式明显不同，在显示技术中，液晶被用作带有滤色器的数字光阀。所提出的光谱仪及其制造方法消除了对昂贵的光栅或焦平面阵列的需要，使得能够制造超紧凑且廉价的微芯片光谱仪（1立方厘米尺寸尺度）。如果成功的话，这种设备的制造将对成本或空间敏感的应用产生影响，这些应用只需要较低分辨率的光谱扫描。PI和团队将利用液晶显微光谱仪技术作为其核心技术的主要组成部分，使用眼睑内表面（结膜）血管的反射光谱无创地识别贫血。紧凑的光学光谱仪，在这项工作中提出的一个，在许多领域内和超越医疗设备，包括在线筛选工具在制造，荧光显微镜的有源元件，和波长选择性设备在电信中的适用性。这些类型的设备的探索不仅将增强液晶显示技术以外的知识基础，而且还将推动光谱学进入仪器以前受到限制的领域。

This Small Business Innovation Research phase I project will utilize contemporary electro-optic (EO) device principles (based on unique liquid crystal materials and configurations) to develop a fully functional chip-scale spectrometer and hyperspectral imaging device. Liquid crystal materials can be used to create analog electro-optically tunable reflective or transmissive filters with narrow optical bandgaps ( 20nm) which, when coupled with a photodetector or array detector, creates a two component non-dispersive spectrometer or hyperspectral imager, respectively. This mode of operation is markedly different than that required in display technology, where liquid crystals are using as digital light valves with color filters. The proposed spectrometer with its fabrication method eliminates the need for expensive gratings or focal plane arrays, enabling fabrication of ultra-compact and inexpensive microchip spectrometers ( 1 cm3 size scale). If successful the manufacturing of this device will have an impact in cost or space-sensitive applications that only require lower resolution spectral scanning. The PI and the team will utilize liquid crystal micro-spectrometer technology as the chief component in its core technology in identifying anemia noninvasively using reflectance spectra from blood vessels lining the inner surface of the eyelid (conjunctiva). Compact optical spectrometers, as the one proposed in this work, have applicability in numerous fields within and beyond medical devices, including on-line screening tools in manufacturing, active elements in fluorescence microscopy, and wavelength selective devices in telecommunications. Explorations of these types of devices will not only enhance the knowledgebase in liquid crystals beyond display technologies, but also drive spectroscopy into fields where instrumentation had previously been restrictive.