Affordable Composite Heat Exchanger

Not Available This Phase I SBIR program will develop electrostatic self-assembly (ESA) methods for the formation of nonlinear optical (NLO) thin films, and optical signal processing device products based on such films. The PI and colleagues at Virginia Tech have shown that the ESA processing method inherently yields noncentrosymmetric molecular structures that possess remarkable large x(¿) second order NLO response, without the need for electric field poling. Such structures have been shown to exhibit inherent long-term stability, in contrast to conventional poled polymers. Additionally, ESA nonlinear optical thin films offer advantages of excellent homogeneity for low waveguide scattering loss, simplicity and low fabrication cost. ESA film thicker than 10 microns can be produced with excellent uniformity and can be patterned in three dimensions to yield channel waveguides and other device structures. During Phase I, NanoSonic would work with colleagues at Virginia Tech to investigate the feasibility of fabricating materials with enhanced high x(¿) response, good thermal stability and low scattering, and consider methods for implementing such materials in early device prototypes. During Phase II, NLO waveguide and modulator device products suitable for near term use in optical communication and signal processing systems would be developed.