Brimrose Wins $1.7M in Grants for Directed-Energy Research, Spectral Sensor Development

Brimrose Technology Corp. has been awarded $1.7 million in grants for development of a spectral sensor and optics for a directed-energy device.

The grants were awarded under Phase II of the federal Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) program.

One grant, from the U.S. Missile Defense Agency at Redstone Arsenal in Alabama, will support a feasibility study for production of lightweight and thermally manageable integrated optical systems for airborne and space-based high-power directed-energy applications. Led by Senior Scientist Dajie Zhang, Brimrose will focus on improving two of the most important parts of a high-energy mirror design, the highly reflective mirror surface and the stiff, lightweight multifunctional substrate. The award is for $999,477.

The company was also awarded a grant from NASA Langley Research Center for a polarimetric spectral sensor, based on an acousto-optic tunable filter (AOTF), with a progressive algorithm for material analysis and mapping. The grant addresses the mission of NASA's Planetary Science Division to advance scientific knowledge of the origin and history of the solar system and the potential for life elsewhere.

The work expands on a AOTF-based shortwave-infrared spectropolarimetric imaging system developed in Phase I. The new device will be a useful tool in determining the chemical composition and physical characteristics of planets of interest, short-period comets, primitive meteorites and asteroid bodies, and in identifying the sources of simple chemicals important to prebiotic evolution and the emergence of life, the company said. Sudhir Trivedi, the company's director of R&D, will serve as principal investigator on the $749,494 grant.

The company also received two smaller grants from NASA under Phase I of the Small Business Innovation Research. Worth a total of $249,746, these grants will support development of radiation shielding material created via plasma sintering and a gamma and neutron spectroscopy system.

Brimrose Technology is the research laboratory of the Brimrose Corp. of America, which develops advanced materials, acousto-optic components, near-infrared spectrometers and equipment for the U.S. military.

The company said it has been awarded more than $100 million in federal contracts across its 30-year history. Eighty percent of revenues, however, come from product sales, the company said.