SBIR Phase I: Focal Plane Array for Active Coherent Imaging

小型企业创新研究(SBIR)第一阶段项目的更广泛影响/商业潜力是实现具有成本效益的高性能成像技术，并为自动导航等工业应用带来广泛的商业机会。这项技术有可能极大地提高自主导航系统的性能，使其能够更精确地检测更远距离的目标，并对环境条件享有更强的稳健性。这些功能有助于提高自动驾驶的安全性。建议的技术是为低成本和大批量的可制造性而设计的。应用将惠及国防、工业、医疗和科学部门，可能在监视、安全、遥感、机器视觉、材料表面表征、生物医学成像以及量子成像等新领域带来新的机遇。这个小型企业创新研究(SBIR)第一阶段项目旨在利用光子集成电路技术开发能够相干检测的多像素光学焦平面阵列(FPA)。当前的常规FPA技术通过直接光子检测来操作，其中在每个检测像素处直接将进入的光子转换成电子电荷。因此，测量的信号与入射光的强度成正比。然而，相干检测同时测量强度和相位，其优点包括近散粒噪声限制的性能、背景光抑制以及相位中包含的附加对象信息。这项拟议的技术将使数千到数百万个相干探测像素能够在一个光子芯片上单片制造，从而实现大规模生产。这项研究将导致设计出具有最佳检测性能和较小形状因数的相干FPA。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。

The broader impact/commercial potential of this Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase I project is to enable a cost-effective high-performance imaging technology with widespread commercial opportunities for industrial applications, such as autonomous navigation. The technology has the potential to greatly enhance the performance of autonomous navigation systems, enabling more precise detection of objects at further distances and enjoying greater robustness against environmental conditions. These capabilities help increase the safety of autonomous driving. The proposed technology is designed for manufacturability at low cost and high volume. Applications will benefit the defense, industrial, medical and scientific sectors, potentially bringing new opportunities in the areas of surveillance, security, remote sensing, machine vision, material surface characterization, biomedical imaging, as well as novel areas such as quantum imaging.This Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase I project aims at developing a multi-pixel optical focal plane array (FPA) capable of coherent detection by leveraging photonic integrated circuit technology. Current conventional FPA technologies operate by direct photon detection wherein the incoming photons are converted into electron charges directly at each detection pixel. The measured signal is thus proportional to the intensity of the incident light. However, coherent detection measures both intensity and phase, with advantages including near-shot-noise-limited performance, background light rejection, and additional object information contained in the phase. The proposed technology will enable thousands to millions of coherent detection pixels to be fabricated monolithically on a photonic chip, enabling mass production. This research will result in a design of the coherent FPA with optimal detection performance and small form-factor.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.