NANOHMICS INC — Department of Defense SBIR Phase I: AF161-089

Description

ABSTRACT: For miniaturization of low-aberration optics in imagers, sensors and other instruments, Nanohmics, Inc., proposes to develop an ultra-thin, light-weight, high-transmittance, broadband flat lens based on microfabricated metasurfaces.The flat lens metasurface comprises an engineered array of highly efficient resonant sub-wavelength microstructures fabricated with standard materials and CMOS microfabrication techniques, to reduce costs and provide a rapid route to commercialization.Such a flat lens could be an order of magnitude smaller in size and weight, and need less bulky support structures.In Phase I Nanohmics will demonstrate the feasibility of a high-transmittance, broadband flat lens metasurface by designing, microfabricating and testing a proof-of-concept (PoC) flat lens operating in the mid-wave infrared (MWIR) band, with TRL 3.Phase I laboratory tests results, and modeling and simulation, will strengthen our design for a visible-band (VIS), high-efficiency, broadband flat lens metasurface to be fabricated in a Phase II program.The Phase II will advance the to a TRL 6 visible-band prototype, which will be laboratory tested and made available to the Air Force sponsor for independent testing.The Phase II prototype will be based on VIS-band dielectric materials, and will achieve higher transmittance and increased immunity to incident polarization.; BENEFIT: Refractive optics provide high-quality imagery but have a number of drawbacks that make them less than ideal for applications involving aircraft or satellites.The substantial size and weight of refractive optics and their supporting structures add to cost and propulsion load.The high-transmittance, broadband flat lens metasurface technology proposed by Nanohmics will enable rapid innovation and commercialization of ultra-thin optical applications with low size, weight and power (SWaP) constraints.Further development will expand the operational bandwidth of the metasurfaces to cover the entire visible, MWIR, or other custom spectral band.These advanced capabilities and features will make metasurface flat lens extremely valuable to a wide variety of applications and customers. Many large and small markets, including the military, industrial, energy, medical, and consumer sectors will benefit from this technology.Ultra-thin metasurface optics, for example, will be very valuable in space vehicles such as observation satellites for situational awareness.Whether airborne or in space, reducing the size and weight of optical systems will accelerate the development and deployment of advanced, compact, affordable, multi-mission payloads.For production of these low-SWaP metasurface optics, Nanohmics will partner with a large contractor, as it has successfully done for many of its recent developments in advanced optical materials and systems.