You are here

Polarization switching VCSEL (P-VCSEL)

Award Information
Agency: Department of Defense
Branch: Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency
Contract: N10PC20087
Agency Tracking Number: 09ST2-0021
Amount: $98,924.00
Phase: Phase I
Program: STTR
Solicitation Topic Code: ST092-003
Solicitation Number: 2009.B
Timeline
Solicitation Year: 2009
Award Year: 2010
Award Start Date (Proposal Award Date): 2010-03-04
Award End Date (Contract End Date): 2010-08-22
Small Business Information
6440 Lusk Blvd D-107
San Diego, CA 92121
United States
DUNS: 118614556
HUBZone Owned: No
Woman Owned: No
Socially and Economically Disadvantaged: No
Principal Investigator
 Matthias Gross
 Principal Scientist
 (858) 458-1860
 mgross@ziva-corp.com
Business Contact
 Marianne Knight
Title: Business Manager
Phone: (858) 458-1860
Email: mknight@ziva-corp.com
Research Institution
 UC Santa Barbara
 Larry Coldren
 
Electrical and Computer Engineering
Santa Barbara, CA 93106
United States

 (805) 893-4486
 Nonprofit College or University
Abstract

Ziva Corporation in collaboration with UCSB will assess the feasibility of developing a directly modulated polarization switching laser based on the Vertical Cavity Surface Emitting Laser (VCSEL) geometry with a 3dB frequency of at least 10 GHz. This will be a major breakthrough in the ability to cost effectively fabricate directly modulated lasers (even in 2-D arrays) with polarization diversity which has hitherto been only possible by using expensive, bulky and lossy external modulators. The basic principle that we propose relies on the fact that the polarization of a diode laser optical output can be influenced by the direction of the current flow. As opposed to the horizontal geometry of a waveguide diode laser, the vertical VCSEL geometry makes it possible to inject pump current in two orthogonal directions. Two electrode pairs can be placed orthogonally around the cavity and the resulting orthogonal current directions can overcome the built-in asymmetry given by birefringence to actively control the polarization of the emitted laser light. We believe that this new class of device will be critical for laser-detection-and-ranging (LADAR) applications, and will open up a whole new class of devices and applications which exploit high speed polarization modulation.

* Information listed above is at the time of submission. *

US Flag An Official Website of the United States Government