PETALUMA, Calif., 16 Jan. 2009. Raydiance Inc. won a $500,000 Phase II Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) contract with the Naval Air Warfare Center (NAVAIR). The funding will support continued development of fiber technology for delivering high-power Ultrashort Pulse (USP) or "ultrafast" lasers over fiber in multiple NAVAIR applications, such as LIDAR (Light Detection and Ranging), ECM (electronic countermeasures), explosives detection, exotic materials machining and others.
Raydiance co-founder and president Scott Davison notes: "The development of a fiber that can transmit the high power of ultrafast pulses to any material is an extreme challenge but one we are confident we can achieve."
Raydiance completed Phase I of the STTR, for which the company was awarded $100,000. During a collaboration with the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), it demonstrated the feasibility of using flexible, short-length fibers to compress and deliver extremely high peak power pulses in a compact ultrafast laser platform.
This technology is expected to obviate the need for free-space optics in the creation and delivery of ultrafast laser signals and promises to open up a wide array of both military and commercial opportunities, says a representative.
In Phase II, Raydiance is working with the Photonic Bandgap Fibers & Devices Group at MIT to improve the capabilities, form factor, weight, and cost of ultrafast lasers by integrating this fiber technology into commercial and military systems.
The objective is to advance ultrafast performance to a level at which the lasers can be integrated into many critical Navy missions, as well as into multiple commercial markets, such as Lasik, minimally invasive surgery, advanced manufacturing, and port security.
