SMALL BUSINESS CONCERN (Firm Name, Mail Address, City/State/Zip, Phone)
Voxtel, Inc.
15985 Northwest Schendel Avenue, Suite 200
Beaverton, OR 97006 - 6703
(971) 223-5646

PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR/PROJECT MANAGER (Name, E-mail, Mail Address, City/State/Zip, Phone)
Paul Harmon
paul@voxtel-inc.com
15985 NW Schendel Avenue, Suite 200
Beaverton, OR 97006 - 6703
(971) 223-5646

CORPORATE/BUSINESS OFFICIAL (Name, E-mail, Mail Address, City/State/Zip, Phone)
Debra Ozuna
debrao@voxtel-inc.com
15985 Northwest Schendel Avenue, Suite 200
Beaverton, OR 97006 - 6703
(971) 223-5646

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

Technology Available (TAV) Subtopics
X-Ray Mirror Systems Technology, Coating Technology for X-Ray-UV-OIR, and Free-Form Optics 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)
Future optical systems for NASA's low-cost missions such as CubeSat and other small-scale payloads are constrained by the traditional spherical form of optics. As such, there is a movement away from traditional spherical optics to nonspherical optical lenses or mirror surfaces. Freeform optics are anticipated to enable benefits like fast wide-field and distortion-free cameras. Although various techniques to create complex optical surfaces are under investigation, the design and use of conformal and freeform shapes are currently costly due to fabrication and metrology of these parts. To address the need for lower-cost smaller-sized lighter-weight optics, freeform-surfaced 3D gradient-index optics will be developed that allow complex gradient-index profiles to be fabricated directly into the optical materials, allowing for optical power to be realized and for geometric and chromatic aberrations to be corrected, while reducing the tolerance requirements of freeform-surface machining. In Phase I, the 3D freeform optical-index materials will be demonstrated in planar, spherically figured, and 3D-freeform surface implementations. The 3D freeform GRIN materials will be shown to relax the requirements and lower the cost of optical design and manufacturing, while offering superior performance.

POTENTIAL NASA COMMERCIAL APPLICATIONS (Limit 1500 characters, approximately 150 words)
As size, weight, power, and cost specifications are vital to NASA missions, a wide variety of optical systems would benefit from the innovation. The technology is particularly suited for size- and weight-constrained platforms, such as CubeSat, unmanned air vehicles, and other small-scale payloads.

POTENTIAL NON-NASA COMMERCIAL APPLICATIONS (Limit 1500 characters, approximately 150 words)
The innovation addresses the need for low-cost, high-performance optical elements that are smaller and lighter than currently available and allows turnkey fabrication of optical assemblies on demand. The printed and 3D-GRIN lens technology allows complex optical assemblies to be implemented in thin planar optical films with a minimal number of components. The value of the innovation is best realized in: high-performance optical systems, where the size, weight, and cost of the systems are necessarily dominated by the optics; and in miniature optical assemblies, where performance is constrained by size and weight restrictions. Applications include smaller, more efficient optics for high-power industrial lasers, lower-mass solar concentrators, 3D displays, head-mounted displays, CMOS imager lens arrays, and camera lenses.