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Manufacturable and reliable electrically pumped micro-electromechanically tunable vertical cavity surface emitting lasers for low-cost ophthalmic swept source optical coherence tomography

Award Number: SB1EY022864
ORGANIZATION: NATIONAL EYE INSTITUTE
OPDIV: NIH
AWARD CLASS: DISCRETIONARY
AWARD ACTIVITY TYPE: SCIENTIFIC/HEALTH RESEARCH (INCLUDES SURVEYS)

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The ultimate goal of this effort is to bring advanced ophthalmic swept source optical coherence tomography (SS-OCT) imaging to low cost broadly accessible environments. SS-OCT is a powerful non-invasive diagnostic imaging modality, and an increasingly valuable tool in the early detection and monitoring of a number of retinal diseases, as well as in anterior eye and whole eye imaging. A key driver of high cost of for these systems has been the cost and complexity of the wavelength swept laser source, which is the most technologically advanced component of SS-OCT system. Most commercial wavelength-swept sources are assembled discretely from separate optical components requiring precision sub-micron alignments. Over the last 3 years, however, funded in part by NEI grant R44EY022864, Praevium Research has developed a monolithic chip-scale wavelength-swept laser source based on electrically pumped micro-electromechanical systems vertical cavity surface emitting lasers (MEMS-VCSELs). These devices can be fabricated and tested in lots of thousands on a wafer scale, creating the possibility of fabrication costs of a few dollars per device. In addition, the record imaging range and high and flexible imaging speed of MEMS-VCSELs has enabled retinal imaging, anterior eye imaging and whole eye imaging for ocular biometry to be performed in a single multi-modal instrument for the first time. The rapid tuning speed has been combined with advanced image processing to enable dye free OCT angiography (OCTA), which is capable of imaging key early markers associated with both wet and dry AMD and DR. Applications of this new OCTA technology continue to emerge. Manufacturability and reliability challenges remain significant barriers to volume commercialization of MEMS-eVCSELs. These challenges constitute a classic “valley of death” between technology demonstration and commercial product. SSOCT imaging places stringent requirements on MEMS- eVCSEL tuning range, tuning speed, polarization, and spectral purity, which are without precedent in other semiconductor laser applications. Additionally, these critical parameters must be achieved with sufficient yield to meet aggressive price targets necessary for high-volume low cost applications, and be maintained over a several thousand hour lifetime. This work therefore seeks to address and overcome the manufacturability and reliability challenges associated with MEMS-eVCSELs, and lay a foundation for high-volume commercialization of these devices.


Issue Date FY	Funding FY	Legal Entity Name	Legal Entity Address	Legal Entity City	Legal Entity State	Legal Entity Zip Code	Legal Entity COUNTY	Legal Entity COUNTRY	Assistance Listing	Award Code	Budget Year	Action Date	Action Type	Action Amount

Issue Date FY: 2022 ( Subtotal = $0 )
2022	2019	PRAEVIUM RESEARCH INC	601 PINE AVE	GOLETA	CA	93117	SANTA BARBARA	USA	Vision Research	000	6	11/18/2021	NON-COMPETING CONTINUATION	$0
														Subtotal = $0

Issue Date FY: 2019 ( Subtotal = $497,982 )
2019	2019	PRAEVIUM RESEARCH, INC	601 PINE AVE SUITE C	GOLETA	CA	93117	SANTA BARBARA	USA	Vision Research	000	6	7/17/2019	NON-COMPETING CONTINUATION	$497,982
														Subtotal = $497,982

Issue Date FY: 2018 ( Subtotal = $500,000 )
2018	2018	PRAEVIUM RESEARCH, INC	5330 DEBBIE ROAD, SUITE 100	SANTA BARBARA	CA	93111	SANTA BARBARA	USA	Vision Research	000	5	7/13/2018	NON-COMPETING CONTINUATION	$500,000
														Subtotal = $500,000

Issue Date FY: 2017 ( Subtotal = $500,000 )
2017	2017	PRAEVIUM RESEARCH, INC	5330 DEBBIE ROAD, SUITE 100	SANTA BARBARA	CA	93111	SANTA BARBARA	USA	Vision Research	000	4	6/26/2017	COMPETING CONTINUATION	$500,000
														Subtotal = $500,000

Grand Total All Awards = $1,497,982

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Manufacturable and reliable electrically pumped micro-electromechanically tunable vertical cavity surface emitting lasers for low-cost ophthalmic swept source optical coherence tomography

Award Number: SB1EY022864

ORGANIZATION: NATIONAL EYE INSTITUTE

OPDIV: NIH

AWARD CLASS: DISCRETIONARY

AWARD ACTIVITY TYPE: SCIENTIFIC/HEALTH RESEARCH (INCLUDES SURVEYS)

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