BOTHELL, Wash., Jan. 21 -- Aculight Corp., a developer of laser technologies, has been awarded a three-year, $3 million contract from the US Air Force Research Laboratory at Kirtland Air Force Base to develop and demonstrate a new class of semiconductor laser for future aircraft defense systems.
Aculight will conduct a technology demonstration of an advanced type of semiconductor laser being jointly developed by researchers at the Air Force Research Laboratory and at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology Lincoln Laboratory.
The laser to be developed by Aculight may be used in future upgrades to the large aircraft infrared countermeasures (LAIRCM) -- a laser-based missile defense system for aircraft. The LAIRCM system can autonomously detect, track and jam shoulder-fired heat-seeking missiles by sending a high-intensity laser into an oncoming missile.
The new technology enables the generation of certain laser wavelengths that historically have been difficult to produce. The laser technology also has nonmilitary applications in medical diagnostics and environmental sensing, Aculight said.
For more information, visit: www.aculight.com