PHYSICAL SCIENCES INC. — Department of Defense SBIR Phase I: N201-082

Description

Quantum inertial measurements of accelerations and rotations can provide the sensitivity and accuracy required for even the highest performance inertial navigation applications; however, the complexity of the associated optical systems dominates the size, weight, and power (SWaP) of instruments that exceed a practical limit for use in portable applications such as an inertial navigation system (INS).  To overcome this challenge, Physical Sciences, Inc. (PSI) will develop an integrated photonic platform to provide orders of magnitude reduction in the SWaP of the optical systems while meeting the strict optical frequency, phase, and power required for the quantum measurements. To produce the highest efficiency system, PSI’s Photonic Integrated Circuits for Compact Atomic-Raman Devices (PICCARD) platform will leverage an electro-optically active photonic-integrated circuit material platform to provide electronic control of light produced provided by an external gain media while operating in the native visible and near infrared wavelengths of the relevant atomic transitions.