SBIR Phase II: Enhancing Pathology Efficiency with On-Chip Optical Coherence Tomography (OCT) Imaging Technology

This Small Business Innovation Research Phase II project addresses pathology inefficiencies where the lack of high-resolution tools leads to overprocessing. By enabling real-time, cellular-resolution imaging, the proposed platform reduces diagnostic turnaround times. The, spectroscopic capabilities to be developed will have applications for industrial inspection and telecommunications. The effort will drive broader impacts by ensuring faster diagnostics, as well as improving certain industrial operations by providing a versatile tool for high-precision analysis in these sectors. The intellectual merit of the project builds on the integration of photonic interferometry, beam steering, and detection into a single silicon chip using scalable manufacturing methods. The core innovation is a chip-scale optical coherence tomography (OCT) platform achieving axial resolution of 5 micrometers or less with real-time scanning. Research objectives include the development of robust packaging, acceleration of signal processing software, and a validation of system performance on human tissue to optimize diagnostic yield. A major anticipated result of the Phase II effort is the introduction of a statistically-validated, manufacturable device. The project will also prove the scalability of CMOS-compatible (Complementary Metal-Oxide-Semiconductor) photonic systems. This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.