Active

Contract Opportunity

Opportunity:

Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL), operated by the Lawrence Livermore National Security (LLNS), LLC under contract no. DE-AC52-07NA27344 (Contract 44) with the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE), is offering the opportunity to enter into a collaboration to further develop and commercialize its Space-Time Induced Linearly Encoded Transcription for Temporal Optimization (STILETTO) technology.

Background:

With the trend to increasingly faster processes, there is a growing demand for generation of optical arbitrary waveforms with ~1 ps resolution and long records. No arbitrary waveform generators currently exist that can achieve this resolution over long record lengths.

Description:

This invention works by imaging an ultrafast pulse diffracted from a large grating onto a spatial light modulator (SLM) thereby directly transcribing an arbitrary record on a pulse front tilted (PFT) ultrafast pulse. The grating generates PFT of the input pulse, and the SLM provides temporal control of the pulse through the space-to-time mapping of the tilted pulse. Coupling this patterned pulse into a single mode system collapses the PFT record into a single-moded coherent beam of light. Choosing the single-moded system to be a regenerative amplifier or optical fiber amplifier results in a mechanism to amplify this weakly coupled pulse to practical energy levels with low noise.

Advantages/Benefits:

• Allows long record lengths (nanoseconds) while retaining high resolution (picosecond) without trading amplitude resolution, and hence dynamic range, for temporal resolution as occurs in traditional electronic approaches.


• Allows direct patterning in the time domain as opposed to other approaches that pattern in the Fourier domain.


• Utilizes a simple optical design that lends itself to integration with ultrafast lasers typically used to excite transient signals and works directly with optical signals (no need to convert to an electrical signal).


• Not susceptible to wavelength drift due to timing jitter in an Optical Parametric Amplifier (OPA).


• Doesn’t require complex nonlinear optics thus avoiding noise and instabilities associated with nonlinear elements.


• Can potentially stitch together even longer records with a Hyper Mach-Zehnder Interferometer (HMZI).

Potential Applications:

• Optical arbitrary waveform generation for wide bandwidth telecommunications and next generation additive manufacturing.

Development Status:

Current stage of technology development: TRL 3-4

LLNL has patent(s) on this invention.

U.S. Patent No. 11,715,924 Space-Time Induced Linearly Encoded Transcription for Temporal Optimization (STILETTO) published 8/1/2023

LLNL is seeking industry partners with a demonstrated ability to bring such inventions to the market. Moving critical technology beyond the Laboratory to the commercial world helps our licensees gain a competitive edge in the marketplace. All licensing activities are conducted under policies relating to the strict nondisclosure of company proprietary information.

Please visit the IPO website at https://ipo.llnl.gov/resources for more information on working with LLNL and the industrial partnering and technology transfer process.

Note: THIS IS NOT A PROCUREMENT. Companies interested in commercializing LLNL's Space-Time Induced Linearly Encoded Transcription for Temporal Optimization (STILETTO) technology should provide an electronic OR written statement of interest, which includes the following:

1. Company Name and address.


2. The name, address, and telephone number of a point of contact.


3. A description of corporate expertise and/or facilities relevant to commercializing this technology.

Please provide a complete electronic OR written statement to ensure consideration of your interest in LLNL's Space-Time Induced Linearly Encoded Transcription for Temporal Optimization (STILETTO) technology.

The subject heading in an email response should include the Notice ID and/or the title of LLNL’s Technology/Business Opportunity and directed to the Primary and Secondary Point of Contacts listed below.

Written responses should be directed to:

Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory

Innovation and Partnerships Office

P.O. Box 808, L-779

Livermore, CA 94551-0808

Attention: IL-13361

Attachments/Links