N07-114 TITLE: High Power, High Repetition Rate, Pulsed, Blue Laser for ASW Purposes

TECHNOLOGY AREAS: Air Platform, Sensors

ACQUISITION PROGRAM: PMA 264; Claymore Marine; ACAT 4

The technology within this topic is restricted under the International Traffic in Arms Regulation (ITAR), which controls the export and import of defense-related material and services. Offerors must disclose any proposed use of foreign nationals, their country of origin, and what tasks each would accomplish in the statement of work in accordance with section 3.5.b.(7) of the solicitation.

OBJECTIVE: The objective of this SBIR is to develop a high power, high repetition rate, pulsed, blue laser for airborne Anti-Submarine Warfare (ASW) systems.

DESCRIPTION: The Navy needs a high power, high repetition rate, pulsed blue laser for airborne ASW systems that is rugged, compact, and light enough to be used in Naval aircraft. The current State Of the Art (SOA) which includes Optical Para-Metric Oscillators (OPOs), wave length doubling of TiSa based lasers, doubling and tripling of other laser hosts, and blue laser diodes, does not currently support the objectives needed for our purposes. While many commercially available lasers and near term developmental lasers meet a few of the required characteristics that we need there are none that meet all of them. Our system requires all of the design objectives in order to be effective. After consulting with DARPA, ONR, and NRL it has been determined that there are no lasers either commercially available or in near term development that can meet all of the objectives for this SBIR.

PHASE I: Define and develop a method a for producing a laser with the following characteristics and proposed a laser system design based on this method:

1. High repetition rate (>1000 hertz)
2. High power (�d10W average = 10 milli joules per pulse)
3. Blue wavelength (Ideal wavelength is to match a Fraunhofer line in the blue (460 - 490 nano meters) but a laser with suitable power and repetition rate in that range would be acceptable)
4. Line width of < 0.1 nano meter
5. Wall plug efficiency of >5%.
6. Light weight. Total weight including the cooling system, power supply, and control system should be less then 100 pounds.
7. Small volume. Total volume for the cooling system, power supply, control system and laser head should be < 3 cubic feet.
8. Ability to be ruggedized and packaged to withstand the shock, vibration, pressure, temperature, humidity, electrical power conditions, etc. encountered in a system built for airborne use.
9. 1-20 nano second pulse width (FWHM)

PHASE II: Develop and build a breadboard laser based on results of Phase I. Demonstrate and fully characterize the system operation in the laboratory.

PHASE III: Build a ruggedized brass board system and obtain certification for flight on a NAVAIR R&D aircraft.

PRIVATE SECTOR COMMERCIAL POTENTIAL: High power, pulsed lasers have applications in manufacturing and lithography. Oceanographic bathymetry systems for survey and exploration work would benefit greatly from this laser.

REFERENCES: 1) Fundamentals of Photonics; B.E.A. Saleh; Wiley Interscience; 1991
2) Handbook of Lasers; Marvin Weber; CRC; 2001

KEYWORDS: Blue Laser; High Power; High Repetition Rate; ASW; Airborne

TPOC: (301)757-5735
2nd TPOC: (301)342-2034
3rd TPOC: (301)342-2022

Questions may also be submitted through DoD SBIR/STTR SITIS website.

** TOPIC AUTHOR (TPOC) **

DoD Notice:   Between April 12, 2007 and May 13, 2007, you may talk directly with the Topic Author(s) to ask technical questions about the topics. Their contact information is listed above. For reasons of competitive fairness, direct communication between proposers and topic authors is not allowed starting May 14, 2007, when DoD begins accepting proposals for this solicitation.

However, proposers may still submit written questions about solicitation topics through the SBIR/STTR Interactive Topic Information System (SITIS), in which the questioner and respondent remain anonymous and all questions and answers are posted electronically for general viewing until the solicitation closes. All proposers are advised to monitor SITIS (07.2 Q&A) during the solicitation period for questions and answers, and other significant information, relevant to the SBIR 07.2 topic under which they are proposing.

If you have general questions about DoD SBIR program, please contact the DoD SBIR Help Desk at (866) 724-7457 or email weblink.