Firm:

          

Optical Engines, Inc.

          

   

Address:

          

842 South Sierra Madre Street, Suite D, Colorado Springs, CO 80903

          

   

Phone:

          

(815) 301-5922                                                                                                                                                                                

          

   

Name:

          

Donald Sipes

          

   

E-mail:

          

don.sipes@opticalenginesinc.com

          

   

Address:

          

842 South Sierra Madre Street, Suite D, CO 80903 - 4100

          

   

Phone:

          

(815) 383-8303                                                                                                                                                                                

          

   

Name:

          

Donald Sipes

          

   

E-mail:

          

don.sipes@opticalenginesinc.com

          

   

Address:

          

842 South Sierra Madre Street, Suite D, CO 80903 - 4100

          

   

Phone:

          

(815) 383-8303                                                                                                                                                                                

          

   

Estimated Technology Readiness Level (TRL) :                                                                                                                                                          
Begin: 2
End: 4

          

          

     

Technical Abstract (Limit 2000 characters, approximately 200 words):

To meet the NASA need, Optical Engines (OEI) proposes to develop a new HE-ULMA, that will deliver high energy pulses with near diffraction limited beam quality from a single gain fiber. It is based on the technological concept of OEI commercial products and will also employ our understanding of advanced glass processing to create fiber lasers and amplifiers with distributed signal mode filtering with efficient pump power passing.

The proposed development of HE-ULMA will leverage of OEI’s experience in world class fiber glass processing to create novel fiber laser structures to enable single mode near diffraction limited operation of Ultra Large Mode Area (ULMA) fiber lasers with multi mj pulse pulse storage and pulse output capabilities,  Achieving this high energy performance will allow NASA to create remote sensing systems with more efficient Non Linear conversions to address more essential remote sensing wavelength bands and to sense a much larger distances and sensitivities.

In Phase 1 OEI will perform critical modelling, simulations and experiments to determine the fiber device requirements and amplifier design architectures for making a typically multimode, commercially 100/400um Yb doped gain fiber operate in a single mode diffraction limited operation.  In addition OEI, will develop double fiber mode filters (DFMF) that will allow only the fundamental LP01 mode to propagate while allowing the pump light to pass effiently through the DFMF.

At the end of Phase II, a TRL 4 level pulsed fiber laser will be demonstrated with 7-10m of single mode 100/400um gain fiber (over 300mj of energy storage) in a high average power counter pumped configuration.  This laser will be operated both in high extraction energy (pulse widths of ~100ns) and in high peak power (pulse width of less than 2ns) regimes.  This laser will be delivered to the indicated NASA facility for additional testing.

 

          

          

     

Potential NASA Applications (Limit 1500 characters, approximately 150 words):

The proposed innovation will apply directly to current NASA missions and instruments (Doppler wind lidar, IPDA, LAS) and accelerate commercial development and availability of practical ground-based and airborne systems (e.g., compact airborne CO2 concentration-measuring instruments) at BP and elsewhere.

          

          

     

Potential Non-NASA Applications (Limit 1500 characters, approximately 150 words):

Verification of CO₂ sequestration and reduction of CH₄ leakage, for example, CO2 sensing for mission-critical sites such as aircraft cockpits, detecting CH4 leakage in oil refineries, and locating natural gas leaks. It is far more sensitive and accurate than any commercial system that measures either CH₄ or CO₂, is not significantly heavier than any competing system.

          

          

     

Duration:     6