SBIR Phase II: Low Cost High Quality Nonlinear Optical Crystals for Laser Light Sources for Miniature Projectors

这个小型企业创新研究（SBIR）二期项目将展示如何将掺镁铌酸锂（Mg:LiNbO3）晶体的制造成本降低一个数量级以上。倍频晶体，如Mg:LiNbO3，可以将1064纳米的红外激光转换为532纳米（绿光）。然而，传统的Czochralski技术制造的LiNbO3晶体通常每个成本为800美元，这对消费者应用提出了经济挑战。该方法是采用激光加热支架生长法，利用一种新型的后加热器生长晶体，并在原位极化晶体。第二阶段，以每年10万个晶体的速度发展这些晶体的制造能力，每个晶体的成本低于22美元。在第三阶段，生产能力将增加到每年100万颗晶体，制造成本将降至8美元以下。提出的成本降低将使微型投影仪制造商能够通过集成激光而不是led作为光源来提高产品的亮度。技术目标是优化镁：LiNbO3陶瓷原料棒的密度，通过优化制造产量和自动化生长装置来提高制造吞吐量。该项目更广泛的影响/商业潜力是通过展示a)一种低成本、高速度和高纯度生长晶体的新方法，以及b)一种以较低成本原位极化LiNbO3晶体的方法，来增强科学和技术的理解。该项目将产生强大的经济影响，因为许多类型的手持消费电子设备（手机、pda、ipod、游戏终端等）包含需要视觉显示的数字数据。微型投影仪可以显示手持设备的大格式内容，但它们的LED照明光源可以吗？生成足够亮度的图像以满足客户。激光照明光源可以解决亮度问题，但激光过于昂贵，主要是因为倍频晶体的成本。该项目将降低这些晶体的成本，从而可能使picoprojector行业实现其乐观的增长情景（2014年销售额36亿美元），而不是保守的增长情景（2014年销售额9.01亿美元）。一个实习生，一个理科生，一个在国内没有被充分代表的群体的成员？该公司的科学和工程企业将被聘请协助二期研究。

This Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase II project will demonstrate how to reduce the cost of manufacturing magnesium-doped lithium niobate (Mg:LiNbO3) crystals by more than an order of magnitude. Frequency-doubling crystals, such as Mg:LiNbO3 can convert 1064-nm light from an infrared laser to 532-nm (green) light. However, LiNbO3 crystals made by the conventional Czochralski technique typically cost $800 each, presenting an economic challenge for consumer applications. The approach is to grow crystals by the laser heated pedestal growth method with a novel afterheater and to pole them in situ. Phase II, enables the development of manufacturing capability for these crystals at a rate of 100,000 crystals per year at a cost of less than $22 each. In Phase III, The manufacturing capacity will be increased to 1,000,000 crystals per year and the manufacturing costs reduced below $8. The proposed cost reduction will enable manufacturers of picoprojectors to increase the brightness of their products by integrating lasers as the light sources instead of LEDs. The technical objectives are to optimize the density of Mg:LiNbO3 ceramic feedstock rods, to increase the manufacturing throughput by optimizing manufacturing yield and automating the growth apparatus. The broader impact/commercial potential of this project is to enhance scientific and technical understanding by demonstrating a) a novel method of growing crystals with lower cost, higher speeds, and greater purity, and b) a way to pole LiNbO3 crystals in situ at lower cost. The project will generate a strong economic impact because many types of handheld consumer electronics devices (cell phones, PDAs, iPods, game terminals, etc.) contain digital data that require visual displays. Picoprojectors can display the content of handheld devices in large formats, but their LED illumination sources can?t generate images with enough brightness to satisfy customers. Laser illumination sources can solve the brightness problem, but lasers are too expensive, primarily because of the cost of the frequency doubling crystals. This project will reduce the cost of these crystals and may thereby enable the picoprojector industry to realize its optimistic growth scenario ($3.6 billion in sales in 2014) rather than its conservative growth scenario ($901 million in sales in 2014). An intern, a science student who is a member of an under-represented group in the nation?s science and engineering enterprise, will be hired to assist with Phase II research.