Award Data

This NASA Phase I STTR effort will establish the feasibility of developing a compact broadband near to mid-IR programmable optical comb for use in laser based remote sensing and communications. The comb generator will use a waveguide-based optical parametric gain block technology that can have ultra wideband (>250nm) operation with very high gain (>25dB) in a very compact footprint. This approach ...

AdvR, Inc. proposes the development of an efficient process for fabricating ridge waveguides in magnesium-doped lithium niobate (MgO:LN). The effort will include, but will not be limited to, fabricating ridge waveguides in periodically poled MgO:LN for highly efficient, single-pass, quasi phase-matched frequency conversion. Ridge waveguides in MgO:LN will significantly improve the performance (p ...

To provide reliably secure communications, development of quantum optical devices for encrypted ground-to-space communications is a necessity. The overall goal of this NASA effort is to develop and deliver efficient, single-pass quantum optical waveguide sources capable of backward quasi-phase-matched interactions for generation of high purity photon pairs for use in an on-demand photon source to ...

This SBIR Phase I effort proposes to establish the feasibility of developing a UV Planar Lightwave Circuit (PLC); a compact, highly efficient, waveguide-based frequency conversion module for the generation of phase modulated UV radiation for use in multi-wavelength lidar applications such as NASA LaRC's HSRL program. The proposed module will provide phase modulated 355 nm radiation for calibratio ...

This Small Business Innovation Research Phase I effort will investigate the feasibility of using electro-optic (EO) beam scanning element to control coupling into a fiber as a fiber coupled pulse shaper. The goal of the pulse shaper is to reduce a 4-6ns pulse to 0.4-0.6ns pulse at 1064nm and/or 532nm at input powers at the 2mJ level. The highest utility of the proposed pulse shaper is its progr ...

NASA LaRC is developing a compact, multi-wavelength High Spectral resolution Lidar (HSRL) system designed to measure various optical and microphysical properties of aerosols and clouds. The HSRL system uses a high power, pulsed, seeded Nd:YAG laser, whose seed is wavelength-stabilized to an iodine vapor absorption line. The primary goal of the Phase II effort is to provide a robust, next generat ...

NASA has a need to develop higher performance ablative thermal protection systems (TPS) than is currently available for future exploration of our solar system's inner and outer planets. Potential missions for these new and/or improved TPS materials include Mars Entry, Descent & Landing, and Mars Sample Return, but the general desire is that these new technologies be capable of cross-cutting missi ...

During this program Fiber Materials, Inc. (FMIREG) will develop practical methods for preparing Phenolic Impregnated Carbon Ablator (PICA) materials for joining thermal protection system (TPS) segments and penetrations of the heat shield assembly. Current and future mission flight environments and designs, such as those for Mars Science Laboratory Aeroshell (MSLA) and anticipated for New Frontier ...

Risks associated with possible medical events during space missions are challenging to identify and manage. Resources must be applied judiciously and risk must not be ignored. NASA's researchers need the capability to identify the risks that arise from the potential medical events, gather all of the published evidence that is available, analyze the probability and severity of the risks, plan to m ...

The goal of this effort is to develop a compact, rugged, electrically efficient, tunable semiconductor laser for the purpose of injection seeding Nd:YAG lasers in NASA lidar systems for remote sensing and atmospheric profiling. A highly stable low power seed laser plays a crucial role in these systems by keeping the high power, Q-switched, Nd:YAG laser at a fixed wavelength and single mode. In add ...