CGH for Improved VECSEL Cavities (CIVC)

ABSTRACT:To meet the Air Force need for a high-quality, high-efficiency, robust diffractive Optical Elements (DOEs) that can be used in VECSEL cavities in place of external bulk mirrors, Luminit, LLC, proposes to develop a novel Computer Generated Hologram (CGH) based Improved VECSEL Cavity (CIVC) based on Luminits cascaded computer designed diffractive elements, a new concept that has already been proved and published. The CIVC uses cascaded CGH technology to provide both a quality beam by shaping modes and control over output with a beam shaper function. The addition of extra CGHs to a single one will enhance the performance merits, as imposed by the user. Thus, CIVC will be an innovative high-power laser cavity design using combination of new algorithms on diffractive optics field and with significantly reduced SWAP. In Phase I, Luminit will first prove the principle of the CIVC with an elobrate software and a breadboard prototype. During Phase II, Luminit plans to mount the CIVC to a semiconductor laser chip to TRL 6 and develop a transition plan leading to limited rate production soon afterwards.BENEFIT:The CIVC will be immediately applicable to classical external bulk laser mirrors for DoD applications as infrared countermeasures (IRCM) and active laser sensing for airborne systems, as solicitated. Commercially, it will be useful in optical fiber data transmission, analog broadband signal transmission, absorption spectroscopy, laser printers and bio-photonics such as biological tissue analysis.