SBIR Phase I: Novel Amplification Technology as a Path to Practical Application of USP Technology

小型企业创新研究(SBIR)第一阶段项目将专注于开发一种紧凑型新型增益介质，应用于各种脉冲激光器，包括超短脉冲(USP)激光器(脉冲长度小于1皮秒)和更长脉冲激光器(大于1皮秒至数百纳秒)。目前，此类脉冲激光器的平均功率和峰值功率水平受到放大器增益介质功率处理的限制，导致严重的脉冲失真或高功率时的光束失真。此外，USP激光器中的放大器限制需要使用笨重的拉伸和压缩方法，从而产生体积大、环境不稳定的激光器。所提出的紧凑型增益介质将比目前可用的增益介质具有超过一个数量级的峰值功率处理，并且将容易地扩展到高平均功率而不会出现波束失真。研究将集中于了解增益介质的性能、样机设计和关键参数的演示，包括增益、效率、功率、光束质量和脉冲质量。建议的方法产生了一个坚固、紧凑、高度可制造和可扩展到高功率和脉冲能量的解决方案。该项目的更广泛的影响/商业潜力将是计算、软件和宽带技术与USP光子学的集成，该项目将推动USP行业走向实用的消费设备。然而，要想让USP激光器在商业领域产生重大变革，在增加功率输出的同时，在尺寸和成本上减少数量级是必要的。如果执行，这一努力将推动新应用程序的爆炸性增长，估计在五年内达到数十亿美元的市场价值。这类应用包括选择性癌症切除、精密材料加工(如制造血管支架和薄膜光伏电池)、基因转基因和成像。“该奖项由2009年美国复苏和再投资法案(公共法律111-5)资助。”

This Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase I project will focus on the development of a compact novel gain medium with application to a wide variety of pulsed lasers, including ultrashort pulse (USP) lasers,(less than 1 picosecond pulse length) and longer pulse lasers (greater than 1 picosecond to hundreds of nanoseconds). The average power and peak power levels of such pulse lasers are currently limited by the power handling of the amplifier gain medium, resulting in severe pulse distortions or beam distortion at high owers. Moreover, the amplifier limitations in USP lasers require bulky stretching and compression methods resulting in large, environmentally unstable lasers. The proposed compact gain medium will have over an order of magnitude increased peak power handling over todays available gain media and will be readily scalable to high average power without beam distortions. The research will focus on an understanding of the performance, prototype design and demonstration of key parameters of the gain medium, including gain, efficiency,power,beam quality and pulse quality. The proposed approach results in a solution that is robust, compact, highly manufacturable, and scalable to high powers and pulse energies.The broader impacts/commercial potential of this project will be the integration of computing, software, and broadband technology with USP photonics,this project will drive the USP industry toward practical consumer devices. However, for USP lasers to be significantly transformational in the commercial space, an order of magnitude reduction in size and cost while increasing power output is necessary. If executed, this effort will fuel an explosion of new applications estimated to reach a multi-billion dollar market value within five years. Such applications include selective cancer removal, precise material machining such as for making vascular stents and thinfilm photovoltaic cells, gene transfection, and imaging."This award is funded under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (Public Law 111-5)."