Rapid Transition of Photonic Integrated Circuits to Defense Applications

There has been little attention to the mission-critical defense applications of high-performance, high-reliability photonic integrated circuits (PICs) – an enabling disruptive technology that is making significant commercial progress. The PIC platform promises integration of many optical components in a small footprint system-in-a-package (SiP) – analogous to semiconductor Integrated Circuits (ICs) and microelectronic multi-chip modules (MCMs). PICs provide extremely low size, weight, power, and cost (SWaP-C) solutions. Commercial interest in PICs was initially motivated by telecom involving small-scale integration. Recently there has been significant interest to extend PIC applications to sensors for Internet of Things (IoT), self-driving cars, oil & gas, and robotics. For such applications, higher integration densities are essential. Sensors of interest include inertial and environmental sensing, LIDAR, and multifunctional physical-chemical sensing. In this project, IFOS has strong evidence of dual-use potential through customer interviews and market research. IFOS proposes to transition modified versions of commercial PICs to defense applications by leveraging its expertise in PIC ruggedization for deployment in harsh environments. In Phase I, IFOS will conducting laboratory feasibility studies and additional customer research to establish effectiveness. Phase II will demonstrate most viable solutions identified in Phase I, for subsequent transition to a range of applications in Future Air/Space Force.