SMALL BUSINESS CONCERN (Firm Name, Mail Address, City/State/Zip, Phone)
Nanohmics, Inc.
6201 East Oltorf Street, Suite 400
Austin, TX 78741 - 7509
(512) 389-9990

PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR/PROJECT MANAGER (Name, E-mail, Mail Address, City/State/Zip, Phone)
Karun Vijayraghavan Ph.D
kvijayraghavan@nanohmics.com
6201 East Oltorf Street, Suite 400
Austin, TX 78741 - 7509
(512) 389-9990

CORPORATE/BUSINESS OFFICIAL (Name, E-mail, Mail Address, City/State/Zip, Phone)
Mr Michael Mayo
mmayo@nanohmics.com
6201 East Oltorf Street, Suite 400
Austin, TX 78741 - 7509
(512) 389-9990

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

Technology Available (TAV) Subtopics
Proximity Glare Suppression for Astronomical Coronagraphy 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)
There is a critical need for stray light suppression in advanced astronomical telescopes and imaging systems. For optical instruments that are required to view objects with brightness dynamic ranges on the order of 1010, precise control of diffraction and scattering from occulting apertures, Lyot stops, shields, and baffles is critical. Super-black broadband absorbers can help control stray light, and work by absorbing light across the ultra-violet, visible, and infrared spectral regions. No stray-light control application is more stressing than space-based astronomical telescopes because the stray light characteristics of the instrument itself typically limits the ultimate contrast of the imagery. Ultimately, the reflection or scattering of light from an absorber will be limited by the effective "impedance mismatch" of the electromagnetic wave as it transits the interface from the incident medium (i.e. vacuum) to the absorber medium.
Recent developments in the patterning of nanostructures have opened great opportunities for the fabrication of nanostructured films which exhibit gradual transitions in refractive index, leading to high performance broadband antireflection coatings and enhancement of black-body absorption. Surface nanostructures that have sub-wavelength dimensions can greatly reduce light reflection, and are biomimetic to moth's eyes, which are designed to minimize reflection in the VIS and NIR spectral bands.
Nanohmics proposes to use its "Thermodot" technology to produce a sub-wavelength structured surface that effectively couples incoming electromagnetic waves into a material with vanishingly small reflectance. Nanohmics proposes to extend the Thermodot technology to absorbing substrates to produce non-reflecting super-black absorbing materials with performance characteristics compatible with space-based telescopes.

POTENTIAL NASA COMMERCIAL APPLICATIONS (Limit 1500 characters, approximately 150 words)
Immediate NASA applications include space and terrestrial telescopes where precision control of stray light and maximum suppression of bright-object glare is required. The ultimate image contrast achieved by space-based telescopes is limited by stray light, and precise mitigation of diffracted, scattered, and reflected light is paramount.

POTENTIAL NON-NASA COMMERCIAL APPLICATIONS (Limit 1500 characters, approximately 150 words)
Industrial applications of the super-black absorber technology include remote sensing in arc furnaces and plasma jets, and other applications where imagery or optical measurements are required in the proximity of very bright sources of light. Military applications are centered on reconnaissance and surveillance imaging of on-orbit vehicles and terrestrial objects.