SBIR Phase I: Thin-Film Spectrally-Tunable Optical Filter with Wide Bandwidth for Visible and Near Infrared Spectrum

SBIR 第一阶段：适用于可见光和近红外光谱的宽带宽薄膜光谱可调滤光片

• 批准号: 1046556
• 负责人: Jingqun Xi
• 金额: $ 15万
• 依托单位: Raydex Technology, Inc.
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2011
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2011-01-01 至 2011-06-30
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1046556&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: SBIR; Phase; Thin; Film; Spectrally

This Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase I project seeks to develop a technology to fabricate thin-film spectrally-tunable optical filters with wide bandwidth for operation in the visible and near infrared spectrum. Spectrally-tunable optical filters with electronic controllability are desired in optical imaging systems, such as fluorescence microscopy systems, dual-band cameras, and adaptive optical systems. Such filters can significantly reduce the complexity of the optics in imaging systems and help to enable a lightweight, a small-volume automated imaging system with significantly improved capabilities. The proposed effort will use low-refractive-index nano-rod thin film materials for tunable optical filter fabrication. The nano scale feature size of the nano-rod has negligible scattering effect and enables a nano-rod layer which can be used as a viable optical thin film material. The intellectual merit mainly lies in solving the technical challenges for nano-structured material fabrication, and addressing the optical filter design by combining the optical property and the nano-structure of the low-refractive-index material.The broader impact/commercial potential of this project is mainly lying on the fact that the availability of wide-band spectrally-tunable optical filters at visible and near infrared spectrum will be extremely beneficial to the next generation of optical imaging technology by enabling the multiple-band imaging function with electronic controllability. Additionally, such filters can be used in any optical system to improve the system's capability with spectral band tunability and controllability, including, but not limited to, multi-band imaging system, spectrally-tunable optical display systems, machine vision system, multi-band detection system, and spectrally-tunable light sources. The proposed electronically tunable optical filter is the core device to enable such advanced applications. Therefore a successful completion of the program could result in a worldwide paradigmatic shift in the optical system development.

该小型企业创新研究（SBIR）第一阶段项目旨在开发一种技术，用于制造在可见光和近红外光谱中工作的宽带宽薄膜光谱可调谐光学滤波器。具有电子可控性的光谱可调谐光学滤波器在光学成像系统中是期望的，诸如荧光显微镜系统、双波段相机和自适应光学系统。这样的滤光器可以显著降低成像系统中光学器件的复杂性，并且有助于实现具有显著改进的能力的轻量、小体积的自动化成像系统。这项工作将使用低折射率的纳米棒薄膜材料制作可调谐光学滤波器。纳米棒的纳米尺度特征尺寸具有可忽略的散射效应，并且使得纳米棒层能够用作可行的光学薄膜材料。其智力价值主要在于解决了纳米结构材料制造的技术挑战，以及将低折射率材料的光学特性和纳米结构相结合来设计滤光片。该项目更广泛的影响/商业潜力主要在于，可见光和近红外光谱的可调谐滤光器通过实现具有电子可控性的多波段成像功能，将对下一代光学成像技术极为有益。另外，这种滤光器可以用于任何光学系统中以提高系统的光谱带可调谐性和可控性的能力，包括但不限于多波段成像系统、光谱可调谐光学显示系统、机器视觉系统、多波段检测系统和光谱可调谐光源。所提出的电子可调谐光学滤波器是实现这种先进应用的核心器件。因此，该计划的成功完成可能会导致光学系统开发的全球范式转变。