The goal of this program is to develop and construct a thin, light weight, low power, large aperture, electro-optic (EO) transmissive scanner that utilizes electro-optically active nanomaterial structures, suitable for UAVs platform. The nano-material beam-steering technology aperture system offers an ultra-thin Size, Weight, and Power (SWAP) to fit on UAV;s airframe and achieve ultrafast and wide scanning angle with diffraction limited beam quality We propose a very scalable 2D dimensional electro-optic nano-material that provides the controlled electro-optic phase shift in sub-wavelength cross-section in the near-field. Nano-material enable sub-diffraction-limit dimension, allows for ultra-high speed, low power consumption and low unit cost. The EO transmissive scanner aperture will be able to provide both the steering for the illuminator laser and the imaging detector.
Benefit: Anticipated development of thin, light weight, low power, large aperture, EO transmissive scanner will be of immediate use for new UAV airframes where conventional Beam steering devices has been prohibited due to steering large size, integration issues, weight, vibration and power consumption. This technology is critical to the success of thin large aperture, lightweight, and efficient Beam steering for Tactical ASW LIDAR project. When brought to product, some of the commercial applications that will benefit directly from the use of this technology are military, aerospace, sensing, imaging applications such as terrain mapping LIDAR and remote surveillance. Commercial applications are driven by the need for thin, low weight electro-optic beam steering for LADAR applications. The beam steering (BS) concept will be integrated on a variety of UAV platforms for dual use military and commercial applications
Keywords: electro-optical aperture, electro-optical aperture, Thin EO transmissive scanner, Optical phased array, nano-material.
