LONGWAVE PHOTONICS LLC — National Aeronautics and Space Administration SBIR Phase I: S1.03
LONGWAVE PHOTONICS LLC — SBIR Phase I award from National Aeronautics and Space Administration.
Phase I SBIR feasibility signal
- Phase I awards fund proof-of-concept work. For capture teams, they mark early interest from National Aeronautics and Space Administration in a technical approach.
- Watch for Phase II follow-ons from the same firm/topic family — that conversion path is where budgets and transition pressure rise.
- Obligated amount $125,000. Cross-check similar awards in the same agency and technology tags for going-rate context.
- Topic code S1.03 links this award to a solicitation family — search the same topic stem for incumbents and recompete timing.
- Amount
- $125,000
- Agency
- National Aeronautics and Space Administration
- Program / Phase
- SBIR · Phase I
- Topic
- S1.03
- NAICS
- —
- Place of performance
- CA
- Period
- 2014-06-20 → 2014-12-19
Description
NASA has a need for airborne or space-based observatories and remote sensors in order to penetrate the opaque atmosphere between 1 and 10 THz. For observations >2 THz, technologically mature microwave sources typically have microwatt power levels which are insufficient to act as LOs for a heterodyne receiver. LongWave Photonics is proposing to develop a compact, frequency agile, frequency locked, single mode quantum cascade laser (QCL) system. The distributed feedback grating (DFB) QCL arrays pack multiple devices on a single semiconductor die with individual devices lasing at different frequencies. The source will be frequency agile over 150 GHz with center frequencies ranging from 2 to 5 THz range. The DFB QCL array will be packaged in a high-reliability Stirling cycle cooler. The source will be frequency locked to a gas reference cell which has multiple absorption lines. The lines are much more closely spaced than the IF bandwidth of the detector, allowing continuous frequency coverage over the tunable range. Phase I LO power is expected to be > 1 mW with > 10 mW in Phase II. Methods for amplitude stabilization will be investigated.