Numerical-Aperture Optimized Microlens Array (NOMA)

The size, weight, power, and cost of high-resolution imaging systems can be reduced by replacing them with smaller, more powerful photonic imaging systems. This involves the use of an array of photonic couplers, whose output diverges in an astigmatic manner. To improve the signal received by the detector array portion of the system, the U.S. Navy is seeking a high-quality anamorphic lens array, which will focus and image the light from the couplers to the detector array, correcting for the astigmatic divergence. Since the photonic imaging systems are critical to the performance of Navy sensors, the lens array must also be reliable, must operate under the anticipated system environmental conditions, and it must be easy to manufacture in a repeatable manner. To meet this Navy need, Holoptic, LLC, proposes to develop a new NA-Optimized Microlens Array (NOMA), based on precision-molded optics and using design and fabrication methods developed by Holoptic scientists and engineers. During Phase I Holoptic will design, analyze, and model the system, then develop and test a laboratory prototype NOMA. In Phase II we will further develop the NOMA into a robust component that will meet the Navy requirements and provide samples to the Navy for validation.