SBIR Phase I: Self-Aligned Miniature External Cavity Tunable Laser from Blue-Violet to Infrared

This Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase I Project is intended to develop a miniature, low cost tunable laser enabled by the volume holographic filter technology already developed and commercially available today. The project will focus in developing the tunable light source for the blue-violet and near infrared range in order to address the above-mentioned markets. It is intended that the activities of this project will result in the development of a novel architecture: a self-aligned external cavity tunable laser (ECTL) enabled by an ultra-narrow band multi-line filter. The passive self-aligning nature of the proposed tunable laser is the main driver for low cost manufacturing. A unique feature of the architecture of the ECTL is its axial symmetry. This enables the use of axially symmetric components such as TO-can laser packages, lenses and volume holographic filters which further reduces the cost of manufacturing. The ultra-narrow band spectral light management capability of the volume holographic filter enables an extremely compact ECTL: an initial proof of concept tunable laser generated single mode light with a physical length of 12 mm and a couple nanometer tuning range. If successful the outcome of this project will have many commercial applications. The tunable laser technology is a platform that can be applied from the blue-violet (375 nm) to the infrared (4000 nm) and use commercially available low cost semi-conductor lasers. The attractive price/performance ratio of the match-box size tunable laser, over such a large spectral range, will open market segments in different fields that have been sparsely addressed by the state-of-the-art tunable laser technology. In particular, the technology can play a role in decreasing the rate of carbon emission by monitoring and optimizing efficiencies in combustion processes such as engines and coal plants. The technology could contribute to increasing the deployment of environmental stations by providing the optical source at a fraction of today?s cost.