TPhotonics Inc. — Department of Defense SBIR Phase I: N161-005

Description

High-power, compact, and reliable ultraviolet lasers operating in the 320-350nm spectral band are critical for various naval applications including: countermeasure for aircraft protection, advanced chemicals sensors based on Raman spectroscopy and laser identification detection and ranging (LIDAR). As is the case for most military laser applications, the size weight and power of the device is critical for widespread adoption of the technology. In addition to the defense and military applications, there are also significant opportunities for medical and chemical sensing applications. Unfortunately, compact, high-power, UV laser sources are difficult to realize using traditional sources. There are many types of UV laser systems currently available, but limitations on output power, tunability, large size, or expense limit their widespread use. TPhotonics Inc. proposes to use a patented novel modified t-cavity design, which incorporates vertical external cavity surface emitting laser (VECSEL) technology, to realize high-power UV outputs in a reliable and compact package. Using a high a power multi-chip VECSEL design efficient intracavity sum frequency conversion will be achieved to generate the desired UV outputs using no active cavity stabilization.