SBIR-STTR Award

Vescent Photonics, LLC proposes to develop a compact, environmentally robust, ultrafast erbium fiber oscillator with ultra-low timing jitter for use in optical signal processing applications. The proposed mode-locked laser will provide a low noise source with wide optical bandwidth for field deployment on mobile platforms, meeting all performance requirements outlined in the solicitation in a modular package with low size, weight, and power (SWaP). This effort will leverage over eight years of experience that Vescent has accumulated in developing mode-locked Er:fiber oscillators and micro-optic-based laser systems for field deployed applications in quantum sensing, atomic clocks, and applied spectroscopy. Building upon our existing commercially available mode-locked oscillator, our optical-fiber-based architecture uses polarization-maintaining fiber and a semiconductor saturable absorber mirror (SESAM) to ensure extremely reliable mode-locking operation in a compact module. Careful design of the laser cavity results in a measured timing jitter of less than 10 fs and an optical bandwidth of 25 nm. Under the proposed work, improvements to this design will shrink the fiber optic packaging and integrate low-SWaP pump lasers and driver electronics to obtain a total package volume of less than 100 cm3 and with a total electrical power draw of less than 3 W. At the completion of Phase II, a turnkey laser module will be delivered to the Navy that will be an ideal pulsed source for optical signal processing in field deployed military applications.

Benefit:
From the support of recent SBIR funding and internal investment, Vescent Photonics became the first U.S.-owned vendor to bring to market an optical frequency comb product and has already generated multiple sales into field-deployed comb applications since product release last year. Relevant to this proposal, optical frequency combs are seeded by low-timing-jitter oscillators, whose frequency/timing noise set limits on the ultimate performance of the comb. Thus, improvements to oscillator performance and SWaP are important to Vescents frequency comb product portfolio. More specifically, there is significant market interest in reducing the SWaP and improving the environmental robustness of an optical frequency comb for field-deployed applications. The results of this effort will reduce the SWaP budget of the oscillator sub-component of the frequency comb and enable thorough environmental testing to improve the robustness and portability of the end product. The proposed laser module also aligns well with Vescents product roadmap and will see market acceptance not only in optical frequency combs, but will support optical signal processing applications and act as a seed laser for larger laser systems used in ultrafast science and nonlinear optics laboratories.

Keywords:
Fiber Frequency Comb, Fiber Frequency Comb, Low Timing Jitter, Deployed Laser, OPTICAL SIGNAL PROCESSING, Low-SWaP Laser, Femtosecond Oscillator, Quantum Timing, photonic sampling

Vescent Photonics, in collaboration with The Aerospace Corporation, proposes to develop a low size, weight, and power (SWaP) erbium (Er) fiber mode-locked oscillator (FMO) with ultra-low timing jitter for the demonstration of a photonic radio frequency (RF) receiver. The RF receiver will utilize the technique of compressive sensing in a photonically integrated multi-mode waveguide to detect ultra-wide band RF signals significantly below the Nyquist rate. This technique of photonic compressive sensing reduces the need for data storage, data-payload transmission time, and overall receiver SWaP, enabling a compact field deployable RF receiver. Such technology will assist the Navy in identifying threating RF transmissions in situ, including jamming and spoofing attacks that cause issues with both navigation and communication signals. Recent demonstrations of compressive sensing experiments recovered multiple RF tones between 2 19 GHz simultaneously where the data was acquired at

Benefit:
Compressive sensing has the potential to reduce high bandwidth/large dataset problems down to low bandwidth/ sparse dataset problems, both of which would enhance the DoDs ability to analyze data in real-time with low-cost solutions. This technology has particular benefit to RF signals that are easily jammed or spoofed, giving DoD warfighters enhanced abilities in the areas of critical signal detection and threat identification. This technology can also be extended to applications where differential changes in data lead to sparse data sets such as satellite image analysis and detection of new RF signals across broad RF spectra. Commercially, Vescent entered the mode-locked laser and optical frequency comb market in 2019, supporting applications such as optical atomic clocks and dual comb spectroscopy. Dual comb spectroscopy and optical atomic clocks both rely on low timing jitter mode-locked oscillators to enable next-generation quantum performance that surpasses what can be achieved with classical sensors; this effort will help both reduce unit costs as well as improve environmental robustness, which benefits both markets. A current pain point in the quantum sensor market is both the cost and environmental ruggedness of laser systems that generally limit these systems to operation in well-funded laboratories only; the funding from this effort will directly aid and accelerate the funding Vescent already has secured to make mode-locked oscillators a tool that can be incorporated into a variety of fieldable quantum sensors.

Keywords:
optical frequency combs, mode-locked oscillators, Compressive sensing, photonic analog to digital conversion, Low Timing Jitter