SBIR Phase I: Focal Plane Array for Active Coherent Imaging

SBIR 第一阶段：用于主动相干成像的焦平面阵列

• 批准号: 2015160
• 负责人: Kam Wai Chan
• 金额: $ 22.5万
• 依托单位: OAM PHOTONICS LLC
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2020
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2020-05-15 至 2023-04-30
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2015160&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: SBIR; Phase; Focal; Plane; Array

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.

这个小型企业创新研究（SBIR）第一阶段项目的更广泛的影响/商业潜力是实现具有成本效益的高性能成像技术，为工业应用（如自主导航）提供广泛的商业机会。该技术有可能大大提高自主导航系统的性能，能够更精确地检测更远距离的物体，并对环境条件具有更强的鲁棒性。这些功能有助于提高自动驾驶的安全性。所提出的技术被设计用于以低成本和高容量的可制造性。 这些应用将使国防、工业、医疗和科学部门受益，并可能在监控、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。这个小企业创新研究（SBIR）第一阶段项目旨在开发多像素光学焦平面阵列（FPA）能够通过利用光子集成电路技术进行相干检测。当前的常规FPA技术通过直接光子检测来操作，其中，入射光子在每个检测像素处被直接转换成电子电荷。因此，所测量的信号与入射光的强度成比例。 然而，相干检测测量强度和相位，具有包括近拍摄噪声限制性能、背景光抑制和相位中包含的附加对象信息的优点。该技术将使数千到数百万个相干检测像素能够在光子芯片上单片制造，从而实现大规模生产。 这项研究将产生一个具有最佳检测性能和小形状系数的相干FPA的设计。这个奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并已被认为是值得通过使用基金会的智力价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估的支持。