GOALI: Design of chalcogenide glass fiber devices for mid-IR applications

许多具有威胁性的气溶胶粒子在中红外(IR)区域有独特的光谱指纹。使用这一显著特性的中红外传感器能够识别、分类和定位一大类威胁、危险和致命的颗粒，但产生和传输中红外光的方法昂贵且效率低下。这项新兴的硫化物玻璃纤维设备技术有望改变中红外传感器技术，为数百万美国人带来潜在好处，他们的生活受到工作场所有害气溶胶颗粒或恐怖分子可能发动的化学袭击的威胁。在产生和传输中红外光方面的进步为廉价和高效的中红外传感器提供了可能性，这种传感器可以持续监测危险的气溶胶颗粒，并在紧急情况迫在眉睫时向风险管理和国土安全人员发送警报。这个学术与工业联系机会(GOALI)项目旨在设计硫化物光纤器件，使传感器技术能够在生物传感、环境监测、国土安全和医疗诊断等各种重要应用中得到实际实现。该项目将扩大学术研究人员和光电子行业之间的合作。它将扩大首席调查员对代表不足的学生的指导。它还将帮助首席调查员将研究纳入大学课程，并改进对当地K-12学校学生的外联工作，以激发对激光/光子学和STEM领域的兴趣。该项目将帮助培养贝勒研究与创新合作(BRIC)的研究环境，该合作旨在促进大学教师、行业合作伙伴和区域组织之间的跨学科研究。该项目的成果将通过出版物传播。这项拟议的研究将与行业合作伙伴合作进行，将导致重要的中红外领域传感元件的进一步商业化开发。技术描述：我们的目标是与行业合作伙伴合作，整合建模和原型制作，以确定指导和支持可靠、成本效益和能源效率的中红外光谱开发的关键因素。主要的挑战是找到最佳的光纤技术来产生和传输中红外光源，包括效率、成本、功耗、带宽、抗弯曲、重量和便携性。为了应对这一挑战，最近的研究确定了需要更多地了解使用硫化物玻璃光纤产生中红外激光光源和使用硫化物负曲率光纤提供高功率中红外激光光源的必要性。研究团队在光学和光子学、光子晶体光纤、硫化物玻璃纤维和计算机建模方面的独特专业知识相结合，将使研究人员能够为各种应用设计高效的中红外硫化物玻璃纤维器件。这一计划将导致在中红外区域创造依赖高功率激光的新应用。具有宽传输窗口的新型负曲率光纤还将改变中空纤芯光纤，使其用于各种潜在应用的器件。理论模型和实验数据的比较将确定器件中的限制因素，并有助于进一步提高实验性能。拟议项目的预期智力意义将是将中红外应用中的设备的理论转化为实践，包括中红外光源的生成和交付。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力优势和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

Many threatening aerosol particles have unique spectral fingerprints in the mid-infrared (IR) region. Mid-IR sensors using this remarkable property are capable of identification, classification, and localization of a wide class of threatening, hazardous, and lethal particles, but methods for generating and transmitting mid-IR light are expensive and inefficient. The emerging technology of chalcogenide glass fiber devices promises to transform mid-IR sensor technologies, with potential benefit for millions of Americans whose lives are threatened by hazardous aerosol particles in their workplaces or from possible chemical attacks by terrorists. Advances in generating and transmitting mid-IR light have opened the possibility for inexpensive and efficient mid-IR sensors that continuously monitor threatening aerosol particles and transmit alerts to risk management and homeland security personnel in case of impending emergencies. This Grant Opportunity for Academic Liaison with Industry (GOALI) project is to design chalcogenide fiber devices that will enable practical realization of sensor technologies with a variety of important applications such as biosensing, environmental monitoring, homeland security, and medical diagnostics. This project will broaden collaborations between academic researchers and the photonics industry. It will expand mentorship of underrepresented students by the principal investigator. It will also help the principal investigator to integrate research into university coursework and improve outreach efforts to local K-12 school students to spark interest in lasers/photonics and STEM fields. This project will help cultivate the research environment at the Baylor Research and Innovation Collaborative (BRIC), which is designed to foster interdisciplinary research between university faculty, industry partners, and area organizations. The outcome of this project will be disseminated through publications. The proposed research, undertaken in collaboration with industry partners, will lead to further commercial development of sensing components in the important mid-IR field.Technical description: Our goal is to integrate modeling and prototyping in collaboration with industrial partners to determine the key factors that guide and support the development of reliable, cost-effective, and energy-efficient mid-IR spectroscopy. The primary challenge is to find the best fiber technology to generate and transmit mid-IR light sources in terms of efficiency, cost, power consumption, bandwidth, bend resistance, weight, and portability. To address this challenge, recent studies have identified the need for increased understanding of generation of mid-IR laser sources using chalcogenide glass fiber and delivery of high power mid-IR laser sources using chalcogenide negative curvature fibers. The research team's unique combination of expertise in optics and photonics, photonic crystal fibers, chalcogenide glass fibers, and computer modeling will permit the researchers to design efficient mid-IR chalcogenide glass fiber devices for a variety of applications. This program will lead to the creation of new applications that rely on high power lasers in the mid-IR region. The new negative curvature fibers with a broad transmission window will also transform the hollow core fibers to be used in devices with various potential applications. The comparison between theoretical models and experimental data will identify limiting factors in the devices and facilitate further improvements in experimental performance. The expected intellectual significance of the proposed project will be to turn the theory to practice for the devices in mid-IR applications including both generation and delivery of mid-IR light sources.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.