VESCENT TECHNOLOGIES INC. — National Aeronautics and Space Administration SBIR Phase I: S16

Description

Vescent Photonics, LLC (Vescent) proposes to develop a compact, low-power, environmentally robust optical fiber frequency comb (OFC) that operates in the visible spectrum (400-800 nm) and is constructed from telecommunications (telecom) components to enable next-generation space-deployed optical atomic clocks and Rydberg-atom based quantum sensors. The proposed system will meet the challenging performance requirements for state-of-the-art quantum sensors and clocks while maintaining a low size, weight, and power (SWaP) in a configurable platform that can be adapted to the diverse needs for several of the key space-deployed applications described in Focus Area S16.08. For example, optical atomic clocks can offer instabilities as low as 4.8x10-17 in a second, opening myriad possibilities for precision sensors addressing NASArsquo;s core interests including accurate positioning, navigation, and timing (PNT) onboard a spacecraft as well as the measurement of weak gravitational fields in near-zero gravity. Rydberg-atom based quantum sensors offer similarly dramatic improvements for electric field and microwave measurements. However, the most promising optical atomic clock platforms (e.g., Sr and Yb lattice clocks and Sr+ and Yb+ trapped ion clocks) and Rydberg-atom based sensor platforms can only operate reliably in laboratory environments, largely due to their reliance on the environmentally susceptible, high-SWaP infrastructure required to frequency stabilize multiple lasers across the visible and near-infrared spectral regions. OFCs are an ideal substitute that can significantly reduce both SWaP and complexity of the optical atomic clock or quantum sensor. However, there is a clear and critical gap in field-deployable, low-SWaP, visible OFCs. Our proposed solution exploits rugged nonlinear micro-optic modules in telecom-style packaging to synthesize arbitrary visible frequencies from Vescentrsquo;s existing radiation-hardened, environmentally robust OFC.