PowerSafe completes two NASA Phase I SBIR projects

Posted by Courtney E. Howard

NEW YORK, N.Y., 7 Sept. 2010. PowerSafe Technology Corp.’s wholly owned subsidiary, Amplification Technologies Inc. (ATI), has completed two Phase I SBIR projects awarded by NASA in January.

"As part of the Phase I program, Amplification Technologies Inc. developed the enabling material and device design for the proposed next-generation devices, using our patented internal discrete amplification technique," says Avery Kornbluth, chief operating officer of ATI. "In one project we demonstrated the likely feasibility of extending the operating range of our breakthrough technology to 1800nm, a wavelength important in eye-safe laser based detection.

“In the other project we showed how to improve operating characteristics important in increasing the sensitivity of space based optical communication networks," Kornbluth adds.

"These novel photodetector designs have vast potential advantages in the fields of remote sensing, environmental sensing, and optical communications," comments Jack Mayer, president of PowerSafe. "They also could potentially be used in a wide range of civil applications."

ATI has submitted applications for Phase II grant funding in the range of $600,000 for each project. Under these proposed projects, new photon-counting photodetectors and photodetector arrays are to be developed to advance the state of the art in remote sensing, atmospheric sensing applications and long-range space optical communications.