Lithography-free Manufacturing of Polymer Photonic Devices

This program is directed at developing nanomanufacturing for photonic devices. Photonic devices are typically manufactured out of rigid materials such as silicon, inorganic oxides, and semiconductors using conventional photolithographic methods and highly dedicated infrastructures. The proposed approach will provide an alternative manufacturing technique for the fabrication of photonic components made out of polymers, using field-portable, easily deployable, roll-to-roll devices. A low-footprint, low-power, portable roll-to-roll device will be developedbased on the initial prototype built under Phase I supportand ultimately ruggedized and used to fabricate nanocavity-based Raman spectrometers out of polymeric materials. Performance of the Raman spectrometers will be assessed using test molecules representative of the conventional agents (chemical / biological agents and explosives) identified as threats to military personnel. Key advantages of these spectrometers include their low-cost, ease of manufacturing and deployability, and specificity to molecular agents.