NASA SBIR 2003 Solicitation

PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR/PROJECT MANAGER (Name, E-mail, Mail Address, City/State/Zip, Phone)
Kenneth Arnett
kenn@perdix.com
435 S. 44th St.
Boulder, CO 80305-6017
(303)543-8077
U.S. Citizen or Legal Resident: Yes

TECHNICAL ABSTRACT (LIMIT 200 WORDS)
Why are rugged, low temperature actuator materials important? By themselves, they are useless; however, when fabricated into thin films and integrated into optical devices that require movement of optical surfaces for functionality, they extend the device operational envelope into temperature and environmental extremes not previously accessible. The actuator media also serves as a compliant adhesive that holds optical surfaces to rigid mechanical supports and allows optical devices to survive extremely low temperatures and harsh vibration environments such as vehicle launch without producing deleterious high voltage. Our actuator technology enables tunable optical devices without a media like liquid crystals in the optical path. Consequently, our optical devices will have superior optical performance limited only by the quality of the optical coatings and substrate surfaces. Several areas will be advanced by this new low-temperature actuator technology. High-resolution tunable optical filters such as Fabry-Perot optical filters are needed in direct-detection LIDAR applications to spectrally resolve the back scattered radiation broadened by temperature and Doppler-shifted by atmospheric winds. When used in imaging spectrometers, the ability to cool the narrowband optical filter and retain etalon plate motion will allow greater instrumental sensitivity to resolving trace ChemBio species. Our rugged low temperature actuator technology could enhance device operation on airborne and satellite platforms.

POTENTIAL NASA COMMERCIAL APPLICATIONS (LIMIT 100 WORDS)
Low-temperature scanning Fabry-Perot filters for LIDAR or imaging spectroscopy
Detection of trace gasses or ChemBio species
Tunable diode lasers for telecom
Fiber optic switches for telecom
Deformable mirrors for aberration correction or spatial light modulators

POTENTIAL NON-NASA COMMERCIAL APPLICATIONS (LIMIT 100 WORDS)
Low-temperature scanning Fabry-Perot filters for LIDAR or imaging spectroscopy

Low temperature actuators