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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 Transparent Ceramics Fabricated by Material Jet Printing technology.

Background:

Optical gain media configurations that work best for high power lasers, especially planar waveguide lasers, are not easily fabricated from single crystal boules or through standard hot-pressing techniques. There is a need in the laser industry for a cost-effective method to produce planar waveguides used for laser gain media with 3D control of the index and gain profiles in the fast, slow, and longitudinal axes. An optic of this nature could have enhanced mode stability and efficiency.

Description:

This invention is about a Material Jetting technique used to form a ceramic green body that is subsequently processed into a transparent ceramic optic with unique tunable spatial control of the composition as a function of position only achievable via additive manufacturing methods. This method uses ceramic particles loaded into a liquid slurry with required viscosity and surface tension to be jetted from a nozzle in discrete individual droplets of

Advantages/Benefits:

• Enables fabrication of transparent ceramic optics with unique tunable spatial control of the composition as a function of position.


• Enables fabrication of structures with complex composition and optical functionality.


• Enables both rapid and gradual compositional changes.


• Useful for producing gain media (e.g. planar waveguide, thin disk, rod, etc.) with controlled 3D dopant and/or index profiles.


• Offers enhanced mode stability and efficiency improvements over conventional devices.

Potential Applications:

• Fabrication of transparent ceramic optics with complex composition and optical functionality.


• Fabrication of transparent ceramic optics with rapid and gradual composition change

Development Status:

Current stage of technology development: TRL 4-5

LLNL has filed for patent protection on this invention.

U.S. Patent Application No. 20230110835 Transparent Ceramics Fabricated by Material Jet Printing published 4/13/2023

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 Transparent Ceramics Fabricated by Material Jet Printing 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 Transparent Ceramics Fabricated by Material Jet Printing 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-13554

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