High-speed nanophotonic spatial light modulators

The contract seeks the development of high-speed nanophotonic spatial light modulators to overcome the performance limitations of current adaptive optics technologies, particularly the slow response times of liquid crystal on silicon devices and the cost and scalability barriers of micro-electromechanical systems. The goal is to create compact, inexpensive, and high-performance reconfigurable metasurfaces capable of rapid amplitude and phase modulation of light at speeds reaching tens of kilohertz to low megahertz, enabling next-generation applications in LiDAR, free-space laser communications, quantum sensing, and advanced imaging. By leveraging advances in integrated photonics and nanophotonics, the project aims to deliver a transformative SLM platform that is significantly faster, smaller, and more affordable than existing solutions, thereby accelerating adoption across defense and civilian technologies. This solicitation, titled High-speed nanophotonic spatial light modulators and identified by OSW26BZ04-DV012, is issued by the Office of the Secretary of Defense under the Department of Defense as a Total Small Business Set-Aside, restricted to small businesses with fewer than 500 employees in accordance with SBIR/STTR mandates. Proposals must be submitted by July 22, 2026, following a posting date of July 1, 2026. The technology must be developed for use in defense-relevant environments and is expected to address critical gaps in beam control and optical wavefront manipulation. The performance of the resulting modulators must enable real-time, high-bandwidth adaptive optics without the latency or size constraints that currently impede deployment in mobile, airborne, or space-based systems.