Rainbow

Overview

Rainbow aims to produce a compact single chip with no free-space optics that emits very high power into a near-diffraction-limited beam covering all spectral bands of interest. The goal within three years is to develop a hybrid silicon chip that emits > 12 W into a high-quality beam (defined here as M2 < 3) that combines three bands: the near infrared (NIR), shortwave infrared (SWIR), and midwave infrared (MWIR, both Band II and Band IVB). We will further develop a roadmap and design the architecture for a single chip that combines all 6 bands, i.e., those specified above plus ultraviolet (UV), visible (VIS), MWIR Band IVA, and longwave infrared (LWIR). This 6-band chip is ultimately projected to emit more than 100 W of total power into a high-quality beam. Each diode will be controlled independently, and coupled into a low-loss waveguide that combines the 3 spectral bands.