This invention uses an Angular Spatial Light Modulator (ASLM) in a projection mode, to create a streak camera. With a novel arrangement of illumination and digital micro-mirror devices (DMDs), an "image per angle" system can be created. Angularly sequential images abut one another such that the viewer sees a single continuous image.

Background: 
Some types of 3D image projection systems place one image on one eye, and an angularly differentiated image of the same scene on the other eye simultaneously. The combined images create a 3D "data cube" to define a frame of an image. The inventors have determined numerous systems and methods for projecting images that comprise a data cube, where each image of the cube is projected in a different angular direction.

Applications:

• Streak camera
• 3D projector
• Multi-photon illumination sources for microscopes
• 3D lithography system

Advantages:

• Much higher angular and spatial modulation rates
• Faster than conventional streak cameras

Status: issued U.S. patent #11,950,026

This invention uses a strategic placement of the gain chips, cavity mirrors, and polarization elements to address the thermal management issues and eliminate or mitigate mode hopping issues. With the novel architecture, the lasers can be stabilized to provide mode-hop free operation with a narrow line-width of 10 MHz, thus improving the overall efficiency of such systems.

Background: 
A major technical challenge in high-power VECSELs is thermal management. The heat dissipated in small volume/area of the semiconductor device must be removed with minimum temperature rise and can require a complex, costly and bulky solution. One approach to manage heat dissipation is to use multiple VECSEL devices in the laser resonator to achieve higher output powers, so that heat dissipation is distributed among multiple devices. However, such multi-device VECSEL configurations suffer from longitudinal mode hopping and standing wave problems. Mode hopping issues can also occur in a single-device VECSEL configuration, where the gain chip is placed at the cavity fold. The invention addresses the thermal management issues and eliminate or mitigate mode hopping issues.

Advantages:

• Good thermal management
• Mode-hopping mitigated
• Narrow line-width
• High power

Applications:

• Guide stars for telescopes
• Adaptive optics
• Optical pumping
• Satellite communications

Status: issued U.S. patent #11,962,127

This invention is a thin wire filament that can produce polarized thermal emission when heated. Using commercial off the shelf wire-grid elements, a polarized thermal source with an extended spatial profile can be fabricated. Such a well-characterized polarized source in the thermal infrared can be used for the verification, validation, and in-flight calibration of airborne and space-based thermal polarimeters.

Background: 
Traditional calibration technologies for polarimeters use either a Sodium light source or a standard quartz crystal designed for the specific application. 

Applications: 

• Defense and aerospace
• Mobile communications networks
• Geographic Information Systems
• Engineering

Advantages: 

• High level of consistency
• Uses commercial off the shelf elements
• Can be used in a variety of applications

This invention is a method and apparatus that can measure the mechanical resonance and mode shape of a mechanical structure. The apparatus can provide important information regarding the structure of an object under different loading and operating conditions. This can help designers and engineers to create a robust mechanical design, to verify the results from their frequency analysis with the final design of the structure, and to monitor change during different operating conditions.

Background:
Resonance is a property that is found on all mechanical structures. Resonance can be described as the sensitivity of a mechanical system to a specific vibration frequency (Vogel). Excessive vibrations can cause a mechanical structure to suffer of poor reliability, premature failure, and increased cost of maintenance and parts.

The importance of ensuring and knowing the resonance frequency is high as by knowing at what frequencies a mechanical structure starts to oscillate at its maximum amplitude can ensure that the structure’s functionality, performance, and lifecycle (Blatter). The invention aims to measure the mechanical resonance and mode shapes of a mechanical structure to prevent any possible issues in the structure.

Applications: 

• Imaging of mechanical structures
• Design validation from analysis
• Process monitoring in a manufacturing environment

Advantages: 

• Can be used in a manufacturing environment
• Gives direct feedback of a mechanical structure under different loading and operating conditions

This invention is a sanitizer that utilizes UV radiation to sanitize closed rooms. The invention will be able to be programmed and automated to precisely deliver the exact does of UV radiation around the area of interest while also considering safety. The sanitizer will irradiate UV light with multiple beam steering devices to selectively sterilize the different areas in a room. 

Background: 
The appearance of SARS-CoV-2 in 2019, created a pandemic that resulted in 5,817,385 infections, and a total of 362,705 deaths worldwide. The pandemic also led to a large demand for deployable sanitization solutions to eliminate, reduce, and control the viral transmission of the virus. Current UV sanitization solutions tend to be non-programmable, static, and fixed. UV sterilizers that are already on the market that utilize UV lightning as a germicide tend to be imprecise, as their UV radiation system only tend to illuminate different areas indiscriminately and non-uniformly.

Given the current UV lightning sanitization solutions that are currently on the market, there is a high need for a new technology that is both portable and automatic. A new technology that could solve the imprecision, uniformity, and mobility problems could improve the rates of sanitization in work environments, schools, and markets, where a high number of occupants is present in a single room.

Applications: 

• Healthcare
• Commerce
• Enclosed room businesses

Advantages: 

• Portable and precise
• Minimal user intervention
• Deliver an exact dose of UV radiation to an area with precision
• Safer UV radiation-based sanitization system compared to existing systems

This invention relates to designs of a low-cost scattering-based light sheet microscope that provides microscopic images of human tissue in vivo. The key idea is to use an incoherent line light source with a rectangular aperture to generate light sheet illumination and detect the scattered light from the illuminated tissue plane to generate images. The use of line illumination and rectangular aperture provides a small illumination light sheet width over a large field of view, while reducing the speckle noise and shadow artifacts.

This innovative approach towards the design of this microscope promises enhanced clarity and precision in imaging. Given its affordability, this invention is poised to revolutionize diagnostic procedures in various medical settings, especially in regions with limited access to advanced medical equipment.

Background: 
Light sheet microscopy (LSM) is a relatively new microscopy technology used in basic life science research. LSM uses separate optical paths for illumination and detection, where the illumination optics determine the axial resolution, and the detection optics determine the lateral resolution. This invention can be used to develop low-cost, small form-factor light sheet microscopy devices for diagnosing diseases of human internal organs in vivo and freshly excised specimens ex vivo, including anus, esophagus, stomach, duodenum, and colon. The microscope device can be used in a wide range of clinical settings (including primary-care clinics, surgical suites, and under-resourced remote hospitals without pathology services), as well as for training and educational purposes.

Furthermore, the advancements in LSM technology, combined with the unique features of this invention, present a transformative opportunity. The potential to deliver high-resolution imaging at a fraction of the cost of current technologies can significantly improve early disease detection and provide essential insights into cellular dynamics and structures.

Applications: 

• Microscopy
• Tomography
• Microbiology
• Life science research

Advantages: 

• Reduction of speckle noise
• Reduction of shadow artifacts
• Use in a wide range of clinical settings
• Cost effective
• Supports early disease detection for improved health outcomes

Copolymerization of chalcogenide halides with widely available unsaturated monomers is used to create advanced polymer materials for consumer plastic optics, consumer eye wear, and smart phone plastic optics. 

Background:
Sulfenyl chlorides are a widely known but largely ignored class of sulfur compounds that are highly reactive toward nucleophiles and electrophilic unsaturated compounds.  Sulfenyl chlorides are closely related to organosulfur thiol and mercaptan molecules were the R-S-H bond is replaced via chlorination reactions to form the R-S-Cl, which is constitutes the sulfenyl chloride moiety.  The S-Cl functional group is dipolar covalent in nature and can be considered a strong electrophile for attack by nucleophilic compoudnds such as, alcohols/alkoxides, Grignard reagents, organolithium reagents to form various organodisulfide compounds. 

The inventors have developed novel polymers focusing on the electrophilic addition of (organo)sulfenyl chlorides to unsaturated compounds, which primarily comprise of alkenyl and alkynyl molecules such as vinylics, styrenics, acrylates, allylics, cyclic olefins, and both internal and terminal alkynes. 

Applications:

• Lenses with high Abbie number and high refractive index
• Consumer optical plastics
• Smartphone or technology optical plastics
• Applications to microscope or telescope lenses

Advantages:

• Improved performance and reduced cost compared to polycarbonate lenses
• Solution or melt processing
• Moderate temperature processing
• Proton-free formation with no fluorination

This technology is a flexible deformable mirror and wireless actuator using a combination of light and magnetic components, to enable large and small scale deformations.

Background:
Deformable mirrors (DMs) are special mirrors designed to be deformed to provide optical aberration correction in high performance optical systems. These mirrors are particularly useful in astronomy and retinal imaging where image quality needs to be maximized at high magnifications, as well as in control and shaping of laser beams.

Traditional DMs use an array of actuators behind the mirror which deform the mirror when electricity is applied to the actuators. This approach requires many, often high-voltage, electrical connections. This technology, on the other hand, deforms the mirror wirelessly, simplifying the design while simultaneously allowing large amounts of deformation and precise control.

Applications:

• Adaptive optics
• Telescopes, especially space telescopes
• Retinal imaging
• Laser beam focusing and correction

Advantages:

• Simple; requires fewer components than other deformable mirrors
• Provides both large-scale, course correction and small-scale, precise correction in one package
• Works well in a vacuum
• Reliable

This invention is an advancement related to deformable mirrors, which incorporates dielectric layers into the mirror’s design. These layers afford a longer stroke than can be achieved by linear actuators. The longer stroke increases the effectiveness of the deformable mirror at longer wavelengths like far infrared. 

Background:

Deformable mirrors enable control of a mirror’s surface to provide wavefront control under conditions such as atmospheric turbulence for astronomy. Deformation of the mirror is typically controlled by linear actuators whose stroke—the total distance the actuator can travel—limits the wavelength of light that can be managed. Current deformable mirrors are ineffective at longer wavelengths like infrared.

Applications:

• Astronomy
• Laser communications
• Directed energy 

Advantages:

• Overcomes the stroke limitation of linear actuators
• Increases the effectiveness of deformable mirrors at longer wavelengths

Status: U.S. issued patent #11,630,299

This technology is a methodology for using multi-static, long baseline interferometry imaging radar with balloon CubeSat satellites for the tracking, imaging, and classification of space objects, particularly objects that are in geosynchronous Earth orbit (GEO).

Background:

Since the launch of Sputnik in 1957, mankind has progressively added more satellites, and consequently more debris, into Earth's orbit. As of 2013, NASA has tracked over 500,000 pieces of debris larger than the size of an average marble, and this number is constantly increasing. The amount of satellites and debris have posed a problem with the ability to track and image objects, especially those that are small. Traditional techniques for tracking these satellites are not sufficient enough to provide high-resolution images and small objects are often missed. This technique improves on a previously disclosed VLBI imaging technique (UA18-117) to better measure objects in geosynchronous Earth orbit, or those objects that do not move relative to the ground-based array.

Applications:

• High-resolution imaging of near-Earth objects (NEO)
• Characterization of NEOs
• High-resolution imaging and characterization of GEO objects 

Advantages:

• Provides high-resolution images
• Potential to support improvements in tracking and predicting NEO flight paths
• Potential support mitigation of space debris

This invention is a methodology for using multi-static, long baseline imaging radar for the tracking, imaging and classification of Near-Earth Objects (NEOs).

Background:
Since the launch of Sputnik in 1957, mankind has progressively added more satellites, and consequently more debris, into Earth's orbit. As of 2013, NASA has tracked over 500,000 pieces of debris larger than the size of an average marble, and this number is constantly increasing. The amount of satellites and debris have posed a problem with the ability to track and image objects, especially those that are small but still problematic because of their high speed. Traditional techniques for tracking these satellites are not sufficient enough to provide high-resolution images, meaning small objects are often missed. The technique presented here will allow researchers and defense agencies to locate space objects and track them in a more timely manner.

Applications:

• High resolutions imaging of NEOs
• Characterization of NEOs 

Advantages:

• Produces high-resolution images
• Potential to support improvements to tracking and predicting NEO flight paths
• Potential to support mitigation of space debris

This invention is a new class of hybrid inorganic-organic polymer chemistry for synthesizing high refractive index optical polymers.  Monomers for these materials comprise vinylic groups linked to a protecting group capable of being cleaved upon application of an external stimulus.  The refractive index of the polymer may be changed during the process of polymerization by the external stimuli.  This invention provides an attractive and low cost alternative for polymeric optical devices that require variable and high refractive index materials and allows for facile fabrication of polymer waveguide devices, including for use as optical interconnects.  The material may be used in a wide range of IR applications, including for short-wave infrared and mid-wave infrared.

Background:
There is a need for polymeric optical materials which possess ultra high indices of refraction and are cheap and easy to process for use in optical mirrors and reflectors, including waveguides, in the infrared spectrum.

Applications:

• Mirrors
• Reflectors
• Waveguides
• Bragg gratings
• Interconnects
• Optical devices for infrared transmission or reflection
• SWIR
• MWIR

Advantages:

• Low cost ultra high refractive index
• Refractive index is tunable during the polymerization process
• Polymeric infrared waveguides

US Patent Granted No. 11,685,797

This invention is an ultraviolet germicidal irradiation (UVGI) system that disinfects air through ultraviolet C radiation. The system has low power consumption and high sterilization and flow rate to both neutralize airborne pathogens and filter all the air inside a room quickly without disturbing the environment inside the room.

Background:
Removal or neutralization of airborne pathogens from air inside a hospital, classroom, restaurant, nursing home and store can reduce odor, allergens and pathogens causing infectious diseases. Disinfection can be carried out in a variety of ways, including air filters, alternating electrostatic fields, ozone, or ultraviolet radiation. Among the many techniques, ultraviolet germicidal irradiation (UVGI) that utilizes ultraviolet C (UVC) light of optimal wavelength in combination with air filters is the most common.

This UVGI system can operate as standalone or addition to existing ventilation system. The configuration can be optimized for high air change per hour (> 10 ach) without sacrificing room comfort and noise level. The optical cavity in non-imaging configuration is optimized for low stray light, large overlap between air flow and light distribution in addition to high UVC dosage for disinfection.

The UVGI market offers a number of commercially available products, ranging from small stand alone units for sterilization of individual rooms to large scale screening of industrial HVAC units. However, many products rely on existing air flow systems rather than optimize air flow and sterilization in an integrated system.

Applications:

• Healthcare air disinfection
• HVAC ultraviolet germicidal irradiation

Advantages:

• Efficient
• High air change rate
• Adaptable to different room size and shape
• Effective
• Improved performance over existing systems

This technology is a method for estimating parameters of the cavity on integrated photonic chips. This innovative approach simplifies the estimation process, offering a practical and reliable solution for manufacturers in the industry to help streamline testing procedures. With its simplicity and efficiency, this technology saves valuable time and resources, providing accurate estimations of cavity characteristics without the need for complex fitting processes. The key advantage of this method lies in its ability to distinguish different coupling regimes, resulting in precise calibration of coupling constants. This feature enables the realization of integrated photonic platforms with micro-resonators, unlocking their potential in various applications such as optical filters, sensors, and computing units.

Background: 
The performance and efficiency of future optical devices rely heavily on integrated photonic chips, within which photonic cavities play a critical role. However, a pressing issue in the industry is the ability to precisely determine these cavities' properties, a process pivotal for optimal device operation. Traditional methods for calibrating photonic cavities have proven to be unreliable and not conducive to large-scale production. These methods often involve laborious and complex techniques that are unable to definitively separate the different coupling regimes. Furthermore, they struggle with the challenge of directly detecting the intra-cavity field in integrated photonic micro-resonators, leading to increased complexity and undesirable system losses.

Applications: 

• Quantum computing
• Optical filters
• Photonic research
• Sensors

Advantages: 

• Improved accuracy and efficiency
• Simple and robust
• Enables mass production 
• Streamlines testing

Researchers at the University of Arizona have developed a novel microscope imaging technique that generates high-resolution large-volume 3D images of tissue at subcellular resolution, and captures transient activities within the volume at 100 volume frames per second (vps). The invention breaks away from the traditional plane-scanning approach and implements volumetric projection imaging instead.

Background:

In order to study complex dynamics of tissue in live animals, ideally the microscope needs to maintain the sub-micron resolution in deep tissue to resolve activities in subcellular structures, cover a large volume to analyze complex networks, and refresh the volumetric image at high speed to capture transient dynamics.  However, despite many processes, at present there are no known microscopic techniques that fully satisfy the need for resolution, penetration, volume and speed.

Applications:

• Fast 3D subcellular imaging for organs, tissues, and other body parts

Advantages:

• Intrinsic high 3D resolution
• Simplified image processing
• Faster frame rates; can accommodate movement in sample
• Large image area/field of view
• Twice the photon sensitivity for increased photon efficiency

This invention embodies methods, devices and systems that utilizes Digital Fringe Projection (DFP) to generate three dimensional (3D) images of an object based on measurement of polarizations and/or color light in a single shot. Unlike conventional techniques, which require sequential measurements, the novel systems acquire high dynamic range information in a single shot and can be applied to rapidly changing scenes and objects. It's fast, portable, compact, and has low power consumption.

Background:

Three dimensional (3D) imaging techniques have applications in industrial metrology, virtual and augmented reality, remote sensing, medical diagnostic, biometrics and homeland security. To achieve 3D imaging, existing techniques, such as light detection and ranging (LIDAR), stereovision, light field or plenoptics imaging, structured light illumination and digital fringe projection (DFP), have been developed. However, LIDAR, structured light illumination and DFP often require scanning and acquisition of multiple frames. Stereovision requires more than one camera at different locations to provide accuracy. Plenoptics imaging requires complex algorithms and computation hardware for 3D reconstruction; in addition, the spatial resolution is reduced.

Applications:

• Industrial metrology
• Virtual and augmented reality
• Medical diagnostics, biometrics
• Homeland Security
• Remote sensing

Advantages:

• Efficient/rapid ease-of-use
• Requires only a single frame capture
• Fast, compact, with high dynamic range
• Provides information about material characteristics

Status: U.S. issued patent #11,605,172 and #11,900,624

This technology is a solid-state substitution of excimer lasers, specifically the ArF laser. The technology is suitable for lithography use and for the manufacturing of semiconductors. This approach will alleviate technical issues with current technologies in semiconductor manufacturing approaches. The technology uses a cascading system to reach the target ultraviolet wavelength in order to work with the semiconductor materials. 

Background: 
In the semiconductor manufacturing industry, ultraviolet lasers are utilized to work with these materials. However, there are technical issues having to do with fiber nonlinearity that limit the abilities of said lasers. Therefore, a solid-state laser alternative has been produced to address these issues and increases control of temporal coherence. Control of such parameters allows for more precise manufacturing capabilities. 

The semiconductor industry is much vaster than the average individual is aware of. Semiconductor components are implemented in almost every consumer electronic available, including microwaves, digital clocks, and any device with an LED display. Therefore, this technology has immense demand as it could help to improve a vital manufacturing process for thousands of popular consumer goods. 

Applications: 

• Semiconductor manufacturing

Advantages: 

• Reduces issues of fiber non-linearity
• Increased control of temporal coherence

Researchers at the University of Arizona have developed a lens-free holographic microscope (LFHM) for observing and quantifying target biomarkers in a solution, including targets with a large dynamic range in concentration. LFHM can be used to detect microscale targets (e.g., bacteria and cells) and nanoscale targets (e.g., viruses, DNA strands, and cancer biomarkers).

Advantages:

• Can image a large range of target sizes
• Accommodates a large dynamic range in concentration
• Has a large field of view

Applications:

• Cancer biomarker detection

Status: issued U.S. patent #11,879,830

Researchers at the University of Arizona have developed an electromagnetic geophysical system that has significantly improved subsurface target sensing and imaging capabilities compared to conventional subsurface measurement systems such as ground penetrating radar. The Differential Target Antenna Coupling (DTAC) method in a vertical array provides a number of important advantages over the large-offset horizontal array for some applications.

Advantages:

• The vertical array, DTAC method can be adapted to rapidly moving measurements, such as from a helicopter
• The DTAC method is not sensitive to the orientation of the measurement system and it is relatively insensitive to variations in the background resistivity
• The vertical array, DTAC method is also insensitive to surface clutter, such as fences, steel buildings, and vehicles

Applications:

• Suitable transmitter moments can be selected for effective study of near-surface targets (civil engineering, water resource, and environmental characterization)
• Effective study of deep targets (mining and other natural-resource exploration)

The present invention is a new MRI acquisition that does not suffer from the noise-bandwidth trade-off commonly seen in current MRI measurement devices. This trade-off measuring seen in large range of inhomogeneity values will suffer from high levels of noise resulting in unreliable estimates of measurement. Accurate results are only guaranteed over a small range of inhomogeneity values. The method collects three Gradient-Recalled Echo (GRE) images at three different echo times. That is, one additional GRE acquisition (i.e. less than half a second longer), in comparison to traditional field map estimation methods. The associated estimation algorithm (processing software) is optimally tuned to this engineered acquisition and returns field map estimates that have a pre-determined accuracy over this arbitrary bandwidth. These acquisition and processing parameters are jointly optimized offline based on the tissue/material of interest.

Background:

Rapid MRI acquisitions with long read out times suffer from artifacts due to inherent magnetic field imperfections, or inhomogeneities. These inhomogeneities are a function of the hardware (magnets), electronics (switching gradient of the MR) and, more importantly, the underlying physiology (air/bone/fluid interfaces, chemical composition, etc). The resulting artifacts, such as signal loss and geometric distortion worsen with higher field MRI machines.

Application:

• Can be incorporated into the acquisition methods of most commercial MRI scanners
• The product could one day be developed on an existing commercial MRI machine and sold as a software upgrade to institutions owning the MRI machine and/or having an agreement with the manufacturer

Advantages:

• Proposed method does not suffer from the noise-bandwidth trade-off
• Can estimate very accurate field inhomogeneity maps over an arbitrary range of values
• Method can be optimized to the imaged material or tissue of interest
• Method does NOT require a phase unwrapping routine

Status: issued U.S. Patent #9,733,329