Low SWaP, 2-micron Fiber Amplifiers

High-power fiber lasers operating in the 2-micron regime offer critical advantages for defense, medical, and industrial applications, including eye-safer directed energy, advanced sensing, and precision materials processing. While kilowatt-class, narrow-linewidth thulium-doped fiber amplifiers have been demonstrated, the Department of the Air Force aims to reduce the size and weight of existing kilowatt-class 2-micron fiber amplifiers into a highly compact system with similar size, weight, and power metrics of existing 1-micron fiber amplifiers. This topic seeks to leverage existing Air Force laboratory architectures to prime industry for production of robust 2-micron fiber amplifiers, paving the way for transition into active directed energy programs.

Objective

Develop and demonstrate a rugged, kilowatt class 2-micron fiber amplifier module that matches size, weight, and power metrics of state-of-the-art 1-micron systems to accelerate the transition of laboratory technology to operational Department of the Air Force capabilities.

Phase I

This topic is intended for technologies ready to move directly into a Phase II program. As this is a Direct-to-Phase-II (D2P2) topic, no Phase I awards will be made. Offerors must demonstrate completion of Phase I feasibility research and development that is not based upon or logically extend from any prior or ongoing federally funded SBIR or STTR work. Applicant(s) should provide documentation demonstrating a clear understanding of high power, 2-micron fiber amplifier design, thermal management in constrained operating spaces, and package ruggedization for high-stress environments. Qualifying 'Phase I-type' efforts would include but not limited to the prior design, development, and demonstration of low SWaP, kilowatt-class, 1-micron fiber amplifier modules.

Phase II

In Phase II, the USAF requires the execution, physical build, and delivery of a fully functional, low SWaP, 2-micron fiber amplifier prototype. This system must deliver kilowatt-class output while complying with the mandatory low-SWaP requirements of state-of-the-art 1-micron fiber amplifiers. The delivered hardware must undergo laboratory verification to validate output power (> 1 kW), beam quality (M2 < 1.2), spectral stability, narrow linewidth (< 5 GHz), and electro-optical efficiency (E-O > 25%). Final deliverables for this effort must include the physical prototype, complete electrical and optical schematics, and a comprehensive test and characterization report.

Phase III

Phase III success will be driven by transitioning the 2-micron fiber amplifier design into full-rate production and securing commercial market pathways.Additionally, work on the system-level integration of the proven 2-micron fiber amplifier into a deployable, multi-kW laser defense system for real-world environmental validation.

Keywords: Directed Energy; Laser Weapon System; Ground-to-Air Defense; Low-SWaP (Size, Weight, and Power); Electro-Optical Efficiency; Power Scaling; 2µm High-Power Fiber Amplifier, High-Power 2 Micron Fiber Amplifier

Technology areas: Air Platform, Electronics

Focus areas: Directed Energy (DE)

CMMC level: Level 2 (Self)