Rugged Low Temperature Actuators for Tunable Fabry Perot Optical Filters, Phase I

During our Phase I SBIR research, we propose to integrate a novel low-temperature large-strain actuator technology into Fabry-Perot optical filters. The resulting ruggedized tunable optical filters will be able to withstand severe temperature extremes, shock and vibrations. The low-cost actuator contains integrated metrology, which is used to reference wavelengths and compensate for vibration and temperature fluctuations. Ruggedized tunable Fabry-Perot optical filters with integrated meterology will find imaging and LIDAR applications on airborne and spacecraft platforms. Commercially, the actuator technology will find applications in telecommunications and storage media devices. More »