May 2024 - Physical Sciences Inc.

Press Release

Physical Sciences Inc. (PSI) has been awarded a contract from the U.S. Air Force to develop a novel pump-to-signal combiner that will increase the amount of pump light incident on the active region of a fiber laser to enable power scaling required for High Energy Laser (HEL) applications.

Recent advances in fiber lasers have shown their potential for power scaling to levels required by HEL applications. Two promising scaling approaches are being pursued: spectral or coherent combination of multiple fiber lasers. To simplify HEL systems, it is desirable to maximize the power available from a single fiber laser. However, fiber heating and nonlinear effects such as stimulated Brillouin and Raman scattering, limit the power available from a single fiber. PSI has proposed a novel pump coupler that provides this needed advance. In the Phase I program, PSI will develop several pump-to-signal combiner designs, evaluate them via trade studies, and down select a design to be prototyped in Phase II.

For more information contact:

David Sonnenfroh
Area Manager, Laser and Atmospheric Technologies
sonnenfroh@psicorp.com
Physical Sciences Inc.
Office: (978) 689-0003

Acknowledgement of Sponsorship: This work is supported under a contract with the Air Force Research Laboratory – Kirtland, AFB. This support does not constitute an express or implied endorsement on the part of the Government.

Press Release

Physical Sciences Inc. (PSI) has been awarded a contract from the U.S. Air Force to develop a high-power electrically tuned phase shifter to form high-power microwave (HPM) antenna arrays with electronic beam steering capability. In this Phase I SBIR proposal, Physical Sciences Inc outlines the development of a waveguide-based phase shifter that will enable 20° azimuth/elevation beam steering for conformal megawatt and gigawatt class antenna arrays. This technology has the potential to replace complex and expensive mechanically steered apertures with an electrically tuned, low loss X-band device.

In Phase I, PSI will refine the design of a novel, electrically tuned phase shifter. PSI will optimize the differential phase shift per dB of insertion loss while ensuring megawatt power handling. During Phase I, PSI will design and build an X-band prototype to demonstrate proof of principle through an experiment. PSI will complete Phase I with a mature design for manufacture of the phase shifter with corresponding high-power simulations. During Phase II, PSI will transition the phase shifter to an operational system and demonstrate a sub-array with 20° azimuth/elevation steering.

For more information contact:

Dr. Sean Torrez
Area Manager, Deployable Structures
storrez@psicorp.com
Physical Sciences Inc.
Office: (978) 689-0003

Acknowledgement of Sponsorship: This work is supported under a contract with the Air Force Research Laboratory-Kirtland, AFB. This support does not constitute an express or implied endorsement on the part of the Government.

Press Release

Physical Sciences Inc. (PSI), has been awarded a contract from the U.S. Air Force to develop a high power, compact mid-wave infrared (MWIR) laser system that combines power from multiple QCLs into a single output using a custom, high throughput optical fiber combiner. The fiber coupled output of the proposed system can be coupled with larger beam delivery systems for long distance directed energy applications.

For more information contact:

Dr. Joel Hensley
Vice President, Photonics Enterprise
hensley@psicorp.com
Physical Sciences Inc.
Office: (978) 689-0003

Acknowledgement of Sponsorship: This work is supported under a contract with the Air Force Research Laboratory-Kirtland, AFB. This support does not constitute an express or implied endorsement on the part of the Government.

Press Release

Physical Sciences Inc. (PSI), has been awarded a contract from the U.S. Air Force to develop a high power fiber-based optical isolator operating at a wavelength of 2 microns.

Advancements in high-energy pulsed fiber lasers have a broad impact on defense and industrial applications. In particular, 2 micron fiber amplifiers demonstrate great promise for improved scalability, nonlinear performance, efficient thermal management, and atmospheric transmission. Optical isolators are the key component in laser systems that protect them from unwanted, back-reflected light, which can act to destabilize or even damage the system. Currently, commercially available optical isolators are not suitable for high-power pulsed fiber amplifiers at 2 micron.

Physical Sciences Inc. proposes to develop a novel 2 µm fiber optical isolator based on a design tailored for high average and peak powers. The developed optical isolator will be able to handle average power of 100 W and peak power of 100 kW while maintaining beam quality and providing high optical isolation.

For more information contact:

Dr. Joel Hensley
Vice President, Photonics Enterprise
hensley@psicorp.com
Physical Sciences Inc.
Office: (978) 689-0003

Acknowledgement of Sponsorship: This work is supported under a contract with the Air Force Research Laboratory-Kirtland, AFB. This support does not constitute an express or implied endorsement on the part of the Government.

Press Release

Physical Sciences Inc. (PSI) has been awarded a contract from the US Army to develop and mature an ultra-low noise avalanche photodiode (APD) with single-photon sensitivity between 2.0 – 2.5 µm.

The photodetector technology, pioneered jointly by PSI and its university partners, is based on digital alloys of AlInAsSb. The combination of the favorable electronic properties of AlInAsSb with a photonic light-trapping nanostructure enables our photodetector technology to replace state-of-the-art HgCdTe detectors while offering higher performance at lower cost. Moreover, the team’s APD technology operates at lower reverse-bias voltage than presently-available 2 µm detectors, enabling integration with Si CMOS readout circuitry for low power-consumption digital infrared focal plane APD arrays.

For more information contact:

Dr. David Woolf
Group Leader, Structured Optical Materials
dwoolf@psicorp.com
Physical Sciences Inc.
Office: (978) 689-0003

Acknowledgement of Sponsorship: This work is supported under a contract with the U.S. Army. This support does not constitute an express or implied endorsement on the part of the Government.

Article

For more information contact:

Dr. Joel Hensley
Vice President, Photonics Enterprise
hensley@psicorp.com
Physical Sciences Inc.
Office: (978) 689-0003

Acknowledgement of Sponsorship: This work is supported under a contract with the Air Force Research Laboratory-Kirtland, AFB. This support does not constitute an express or implied endorsement on the part of the Government.

Article

Physical Sciences Inc. (PSI) has been awarded a Phase II STTR contract from the US Army to develop and mature a fast, frequency-agile, stimuli-responsive, and tunable optical filters that autonomously protect sensors from damaging optical beams, while allowing unobstructed transmission of non-damaging wavelengths and intensities. With our university partner, PSI is developing a technology that that uses amplified free carriers to attenuate more than 99.9% of a high power incident pulse. An individual device will be able to protect against unknown threats across a broad bandwidth (e.g. the full visible) and the concept can be designed to operate in the visible, near infrared and short wave infrared bands, while exhibiting high transmission in the absence of high-intensity threats.

For more information contact:

Dr. David Woolf
Group Leader, Structured Optical Materials
dwoolf@psicorp.com
Physical Sciences Inc.
Office: (978) 689-0003

Acknowledgement of Sponsorship: This work is supported under a contract with the U.S. Army. This support does not constitute an express or implied endorsement on the part of the Government.