SBIR Phase I: Novel Amplification Technology as a Path to Practical Application of USP Technology

这个小企业创新研究（SBIR）第一阶段项目将专注于开发一种紧凑的新型增益介质，应用于各种脉冲激光器，包括超短脉冲（USP）激光器（脉冲长度小于1皮秒）和更长的脉冲激光器（大于1皮秒到数百纳秒）。这种脉冲激光器的平均功率和峰值功率水平目前受到放大器增益介质的功率处理的限制，导致在高功率下产生严重的脉冲畸变或光束畸变。此外，USP激光器的放大器限制需要笨重的拉伸和压缩方法，导致大型，环境不稳定的激光器。所提出的紧凑型增益介质将具有超过一个数量级的增加峰值功率处理比今天可用的增益介质，并将很容易扩展到高平均功率无波束畸变。研究将重点了解增益介质的性能、原型设计和演示关键参数，包括增益、效率、功率、光束质量和脉冲质量。该方法具有鲁棒性、紧凑性、高度可制造性以及可扩展到高功率和脉冲能量的特点。该项目的更广泛的影响/商业潜力将是计算、软件和宽带技术与USP光子学的集成，该项目将推动USP行业向实用的消费设备发展。然而，为了使USP激光器在商业领域发生重大转变，必须在增加功率输出的同时减少尺寸和成本。如果执行，这一努力将推动新应用程序的爆炸式增长，预计在五年内达到数十亿美元的市场价值。这些应用包括选择性癌症切除、精密材料加工（如制造血管支架和薄膜光伏电池）、基因转染和成像。“这项奖励是根据2009年美国复苏和再投资法案（公法111-5）资助的。”

This Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase I project will focus on the development of a compact novel gain medium with application to a wide variety of pulsed lasers, including ultrashort pulse (USP) lasers,(less than 1 picosecond pulse length) and longer pulse lasers (greater than 1 picosecond to hundreds of nanoseconds). The average power and peak power levels of such pulse lasers are currently limited by the power handling of the amplifier gain medium, resulting in severe pulse distortions or beam distortion at high owers. Moreover, the amplifier limitations in USP lasers require bulky stretching and compression methods resulting in large, environmentally unstable lasers. The proposed compact gain medium will have over an order of magnitude increased peak power handling over todays available gain media and will be readily scalable to high average power without beam distortions. The research will focus on an understanding of the performance, prototype design and demonstration of key parameters of the gain medium, including gain, efficiency,power,beam quality and pulse quality. The proposed approach results in a solution that is robust, compact, highly manufacturable, and scalable to high powers and pulse energies.The broader impacts/commercial potential of this project will be the integration of computing, software, and broadband technology with USP photonics,this project will drive the USP industry toward practical consumer devices. However, for USP lasers to be significantly transformational in the commercial space, an order of magnitude reduction in size and cost while increasing power output is necessary. If executed, this effort will fuel an explosion of new applications estimated to reach a multi-billion dollar market value within five years. Such applications include selective cancer removal, precise material machining such as for making vascular stents and thinfilm photovoltaic cells, gene transfection, and imaging."This award is funded under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (Public Law 111-5)."