NASA SBIR 2010 Solicitation

SMALL BUSINESS CONCERN (Firm Name, Mail Address, City/State/Zip, Phone)
Optimax Systems, Inc.
6367 Dean Parkway
Ontario, NY 14519 - 8939
(585) 265-1020

PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR/PROJECT MANAGER (Name, E-mail, Mail Address, City/State/Zip, Phone)
Jessica Nelson
jnelson@optimaxsi.com
6367 Dean Parkway
Ontario, NY 14519 - 8939
(585) 217-0776

Estimated Technology Readiness Level (TRL) at beginning and end of contract:
Begin: 2
End: 3

TECHNICAL ABSTRACT (Limit 2000 characters, approximately 200 words)
The Optimax VIBE process is a full-aperture, conformal polishing process
incorporating high frequency motion that rapidly removes sub-surface
damage in a VIBE pre-polish step and eliminates mid-spatial frequency
(MSF) errors created by deterministic polishing in a VIBE finishing step.
This Phase I feasibility study will focus on the VIBE finishing step to
remove undesirable MSF errors while at the same time maintaining the
desired low spatial frequency form accuracy.

POTENTIAL NASA COMMERCIAL APPLICATIONS (Limit 1500 characters, approximately 150 words)
VIBE technology to reduce and/or eliminate mid-spatial frequency errors has potential to be used for optics in many applications. Specifically those applications that are susceptible to small angle scatter sometimes referred to as flare. The International X-Ray Observatory (IXO), consisting of 361 grazing incidence nested, azimuthally segmented shell mirrors, is susceptible to mid-spatial frequency errors. These thin (0.4mm) mirrors are produced through a thermal slumping technique where a thin glass substrate replicates the shape of a mandrel (fused quartz or stainless steel). The current budgeted error for the IXO mandrels is 1.4nm rms over the 2 20mm spatial frequency range. In addition, exo-planet imaging systems require minimal scattering due to mid-spatial frequency errors on their primary and secondary mirrors. An example is the specification for the Jovian planet finder optical system was less than 1nm rms in the 4 50cycles/aperture range.

POTENTIAL NON-NASA COMMERCIAL APPLICATIONS (Limit 1500 characters, approximately 150 words)
Non-NASA commercial applications include high energy laser systems, EUV optics (lithography), imaging systems and X-ray synchrotrons. High energy laser applications, such as Inertial Confinement Fusion National Ignition Facility (NIF) at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory are susceptible to mid-spatial frequency errors. The MSF errors are a source of damaging intensity, specifically in the region of 120ìm 33mm. In EUV lithography, flare is a significant problem. Flare as mentioned earlier is directly associated with mid-spatial frequency error. The mid-spatial frequency errors cause light to scatter into small angles and reduce image contrast. The specific mid-spatial frequency region of interest to the EUV lithography community is between 1ìm 2mm. The mid-spatial frequency error scales as 1/(lambda)^2, which causes an increasingly significant problem as the lithography industry heads toward shorter and shorter wavelength systems.

TECHNOLOGY TAXONOMY MAPPING (NASA's technology taxonomy has been developed by the SBIR-STTR program to disseminate awareness of proposed and awarded R/R&D in the agency. It is a listing of over 100 technologies, sorted into broad categories, of interest to NASA.)

Lenses Materials & Structures (including Optoelectronics) Mirrors Optical/Photonic (see also Photonics)