SBIR-STTR Award

Not Available The design of LADAR systems varies widely with application and platform requiring custom designs which increase cost and complexity and limit the commercial applicability. To address this issue, CTI proposes a unique, modular optical waveguide amplifier (WGA) based transmitter which can be adapted to coherent and direct detection transceivers over a wide range of repetition rates and average powers. When compared to traditional lasers, the WGA has many exceptional properties: (1) compact, light weight, efficient, and highly manufacturable; (2) distributed thermal load that does not introduce serious optical distortions and allows passive conduction cooling; (3) mechanically flexible similar to fibers, but preserving spatial/spectral coherence and polarization; (4) each module is potentially scalable to kilowatts of cw power or tens of millijoules pulsed output; (5) geometry amenable to being pumped by high power laser diode arrays with minimal coupling optics. The WGA is ideal for eye-safe, multi-function, space-based and tactical airborne LADAR where resources are at a premium. This novel waveguide design is radically different from standard waveguide and fiber designs and will find wide commercial applicability and provide a path to multidiscriminant remote sensing modules. CTI's experience in flight-worthy EO systems helps ensure a successful PhaseI/II program.