SMALL BUSINESS CONCERN (Firm Name, Mail Address, City/State/Zip, Phone)
Beyond Photonics, LLC
6205 Lookout Road, Suite B
Boulder, CO 80301 - 3334
(303) 475-2088

PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR/PROJECT MANAGER (Name, E-mail, Mail Address, City/State/Zip, Phone)
Sammy Henderson
sammy@beyondphotonics.com
1650 Coal Creek Drive, Unit B
Lafayette, CO 80026 - 8868
(303) 396-8536

CORPORATE/BUSINESS OFFICIAL (Name, E-mail, Mail Address, City/State/Zip, Phone)
Sammy Henderson
sammy@beyondphotonics.com
1650 Coal Creek Drive, Unit B
Lafayette, CO 80026 - 8868
(303) 396-8536

Estimated Technology Readiness Level (TRL) at beginning and end of contract:
Begin: 3
End: 4

Technology Available (TAV) Subtopics
Lidar Remote Sensing Technologies is a Technology Available (TAV) subtopic that includes NASA Intellectual Property (IP). Do you plan to use the NASA IP under the award?
No

TECHNICAL ABSTRACT (Limit 2000 characters, approximately 200 words)
In this Phase II effort we propose to work with NASA to extend the Phase I achievements, which focused on design and development of very compact master and long-pulse slave oscillator lasers operating near 2.05 um wavelength. Beyond Photonics LLC's "SWIFT" laser was matured and largely productized, with an initial unit delivered in Phase I. In parallel, conceptual and preliminary design and risk-reduction of a very compact short-cavity Tm,Ho:YLF Q-switched laser was achieved, which will be extended significantly in Phase II and result in a robust injection-seeded, actively pulse-stretched prototype. The compact transmitter will include a "nano-SWIFT" that will have size and weight comparable to a butterfly-packaged DFB diode laser but with far better frequency stability and higher power. In Phase II we will demonstrate output characteristics of 32 mJ, 100 Hz PRF, and 300-500 ns pulse durations from this compact robust injection-seeded transmitter. This moderate-PRF moderate-energy transmitter will be immediately suitable for 3D winds from ground and airborne platforms and with continued TRL advancement eventually space platforms. The transmitter will be capable of efficient operation at >4 W average power at lower pulse energies and higher PRFs (e.g.. 1 -4 kHz) which is suitable for IPDA spectroscopy and hard target measurement lidar systems operating from space (following an appropriate engineering and qualification effort) using either coherent or direct detection with state-of-the-art low-noise direct detectors. The overarching objective of the proposed effort is to develop compact, efficient, and reliable pulsed and cw lasers and lidar transmitters for future NASA missions. Specifically, we address needs described for 3D winds, atmospheric CO2 and H20 concentration sensing in the 2.05 um region; but we also recognize that such innovations can be readily applied to transmitter laser operation at other IR and SWIR wavelengths and associated instruments.

POTENTIAL NASA COMMERCIAL APPLICATIONS (Limit 1500 characters, approximately 150 words)
Potential NASA applications of the proposed compact single-frequency 2-micron laser transmitter include airborne demonstration systems for 3D winds and ASCENDS atmospheric CO2 measurement missions, as well as other NASA atmospheric spectroscopy efforts focused on the SWIR spectral region. The compact pulse-stretched transmitter developed in Phase II will match the wind measurement potential of the current NASA DAWN wind lidar operating at 100 mJ and 10 Hz, but in a much smaller and more reliable package. The fully-functional high-power SWIFT cw laser delivered at the end of Phase I will be immediately applicable to several 2.05 um NASA remote-sensing programs, and will be available as a product from BP soon after completion of the initial Phase I effort; similarly, the "nano-SWIFT" will reach product maturity by the end of Phase II. The innovations developed in this Phase I effort can inform ongoing and future NASA remote sensing programs, including 3D Winds, ASCENDS CO2 remote spectroscopy, and other programs requiring very compact, robust 2-micron lasers and associated photonic technology. We also see this technology benefitting systems for identifying and tracking orbital space debris and other hazards from space.

POTENTIAL NON-NASA COMMERCIAL APPLICATIONS (Limit 1500 characters, approximately 150 words)
Non-NASA applications of the proposed single-frequency 2-micron long-pulse, Fourier-transform-limited Q-switched transmitter laser technologies begun in Phase I and further matured in Phase II include eye-safe wind energy management lidar (winds forecasting, wind farm energy extraction optimization, and gust-front prediction), aircraft wakes detection and analysis, drone-based remote sensing applications, greenhouse gas flux remote spectroscopy, and numerous Doppler winds applications. As noted above, the high-power and compacted SWIFT cw master oscillator sources would be made available commercially for numerous remotes sensing and spectroscopic applications. Actively pulse-stretched laser technology has potentially quite broad application across many commercial, industrial, scientific, and research fields, where very robust, very compact transform-limited laser energy is required; no commercially-available such lasers exist on the market at present.