SBIR Phase I: Focal Plane Array for Active Coherent Imaging

这个小企业创新研究（SBIR）第一阶段项目的更广泛的影响/商业潜力是使具有广泛商业机会的具有成本效益的高性能成像技术应用于工业应用，如自主导航。该技术有可能大大提高自主导航系统的性能，能够更精确地探测更远距离的物体，并在环境条件下具有更强的鲁棒性。这些功能有助于提高自动驾驶的安全性。该技术具有低成本、大批量的可制造性。应用将有利于国防、工业、医疗和科学部门，潜在地在监视、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会。这项小型企业创新研究（SBIR）第一阶段项目旨在开发一种能够利用光子集成电路技术进行相干检测的多像素光学焦平面阵列（FPA）。目前传统的FPA技术是通过直接光子探测来操作的，其中入射光子在每个探测像素处直接转化为电子电荷。因此，被测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，其优点包括近距离噪声限制性能、背景光抑制和相位中包含的附加目标信息。所提出的技术将使成千上万的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。研究结果将有助于设计出具有最佳检测性能和小尺寸的相干FPA。该奖项反映了美国国家科学基金会的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的知识价值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.