Hyperspectral, Wide Field of View Spatially Variant Photonic Crystals

OUSD (R&E) MODERNIZATION PRIORITY: Microelectronics; General Warfighting Requirements (GWR) TECHNOLOGY AREA(S): Sensors; Electronics; Materials The technology within this topic is restricted under the International Traffic in Arms Regulation (ITAR), 22 CFR Parts 120-130, which controls the export and import of defense-related material and services, including export of sensitive technical data, or the Export Administration Regulation (EAR), 15 CFR Parts 730-774, which controls dual use items. Offerors must disclose any proposed use of foreign nationals (FNs), their country(ies) of origin, the type of visa or work permit possessed, and the statement of work (SOW) tasks intended for accomplishment by the FN(s) in accordance with the Announcement. Offerors are advised foreign nationals proposed to perform on this topic may be restricted due to the technical data under US Export Control Laws. Please direct questions to the Air Force SBIR/STTR HelpDesk: usaf.team@afsbirsttr.us. OBJECTIVE: Design, simulate, and fabricate durable, practical photonic devices to function as components in guidance systems operating in the Near Infrared (NIR) and Mid Infrared (MIR) with a wide field-of-view. DESCRIPTION: Novel, robust, durable, and practical photonic devices are sought to function as components in guidance for alternate navigation systems to augment GPS degradation or availability. The devices must produce a tunable, highly directional radiation pattern. They must be broadband and operate through the NIR/MIR wavelengths. They must support a wide field-of-view between 150 170 . Devices will ideally be composed of single units rather than an array of components to minimize footprint. Designs must support a variety of novel geometries in addition to standard, traditional structures. Material requirements must be practical and not include high refractive index, negative refractive index, or other media that is difficult and costly to procure. Electromagnetic simulations should be performed with open-source tools on the candidate devices to provide proof-of-concept performance. The proposed designs will leverage modern additive manufacturing methods to enable the design of practical, durable, low-cost, low-volume devices. State-of-the-art approaches to achieving practical, directional, lightweight systems include devices based on material composition including frequency dependent, anisotropic, and metamaterials, electromagnetic band gap waveguides, array feeds, and transformation optics. Devices emphasizing material composition can be highly directional, but they tend to be narrow band and require large footprints. Arrays of feeds rather than a single feed have also been used to broaden system performance, but this leads to an increase in size and mechanical complexity an important consideration due to mechanical scan systems often being a key point of failure. Devices based on transformation optics can be highly tailorable, but these often require exotic materials. All these methods also tend to require complex fabrication. PHASE I: Explore proof-of-concept device designs capable of supporting a field-of-view between 150 -170 , operating across the NIR/MIR wavelengths, with low refractive index materials. Perform simulations using open-source tools such as Julia and Python. Compare the simulated performance of traditional structures with novel designs, including size, weight, power, and durability. PHASE II: Fabricate the most promising designs identified during Phase I. The fabricated devices will undergo inspection and electromagnetic characterization to validate a wide field-of-view, broad bandwidth, and other target performance metrics mentioned above. Identify applications where these devices would offer improvements in size, weight, power, and durability. PHASE III DUAL USE APPLICATIONS: GNC system components are used in many commercial and defense applications including aerospace, automotive, land, and remote sensing applications. Devices made to be durable, tunable, and broadband would provide a considerable improvement to existing solutions and would find widespread applications in these areas. REFERENCES: Shirk, J. S., Sandrock, M., Scribner, D., Fleet, E., Stroman, R., Baer, E., Hiltner, a, & Systems, O. S. (2006). Biomimetic Gradient Index (GRIN) Lenses. Review Literature And Arts Of The Americas, 53 61. Akmansoy, ., Gaufillet, F., & Akmansoy, . (2016). Graded Photonic Crystals for Luneburg Lens. IEEE Photonics Journal, 8(1), 1 11. https://doi.org/10.1109/JPHOT.2016.2521261 Park, J.-M., Lee, S.-G., Park, H. Y., & Kim, J.-E. (2008). Efficient beaming of self-collimated light from photonic crystals. Optics Express, 16(25), 20354. https://doi.org/10.1364/oe.16.020354 KEYWORDS: spatially variant photonic crystals (SVPC), bioinspired, wide field of view, broadband