SBIR-STTR Award

A tunable, solid-state blue laser which enables power-scaling for simultaneous high pulse energy and average power will be developed for nonacoustic imaging applications. A power-scalable pump laser at 1 m will be used to pump nonlinear optics processes which generate the required, tunable, narrow-band blue spectrum. The power scaling simplicity arises from straightforward MOPA architectures and avoiding any frequency conversion to the UV. Additionally, blue light generation comes from a nonlinear conversion design which avoids certain power extraction limitations from high power nonlinear parametric oscillators.

Benefit:
A high peak and average power pulsed blue laser would be a valuable tool to the underwater imaging community. This laser source will be a valuable tool in order to study imaging mapping techniques and systems.

Keywords:
nonacoustic underwater imaging, nonacoustic underwater imaging, single frequency, nonlinear optics, Blue laser

Q-Peak Inc. will develop a multi-spectral laser transmitter with six frequency bands across the visible and near infrared (NIR) spectral regions for the next generation of the Navy’s Coastal Battlefield Reconnaissance and Analysis (COBRA) airborne mine detection system. Currently, COBRA’s mine detection system utilizes a sensor payload that operates onboard the MQ-8B Fire Scout and can detect surf and beach zone mines in the daytime. Q-Peak’s multispectral laser transmitter will serve to extend the capabilities of COBRA by increasing the probability of detection while lowering false alarm rates. The addition of multiple spectral bands will also serve to extend the operational capabilities of the COBRA system into nighttime and littoral zone detection. The proposed multispectral laser transmitter utilizes Q-Peak’s CHAMP amplifier technology, which provides an improvement in the overall net gain capabilities by >3× over traditional optical amplifier geometries within the same operating volume, enabling high-pulse energies and efficient nonlinear optical conversion in an extremely low SWaP package.