July 23, 2008

Matthew Gold of the Technology Inteligence Unit, the science, technology, and innovation analysis arm of the Center for Advanced Defense Studies calls NovaWave Technologies, Inc "Leader in Chemical Sensor Technology" in its technology blog. Gold goes on to say "Clearly, NovaWave has a long-term market lush with opportunities for investment and development. "

You can read the full article here .

May 19, 2008 

The quarterly newsletter of the Missile Defense Agency's Technology Applications program features an article from NovaWave Technologies. It describes a real-time optical-health monitoring system, dubbed a “Canary in a Beam Line,” to fend off damage to laser components before it’s too late.

Based on a Phase II SBIR supporting the Airborne Laser (ABL) program, the system comprises an optical cavity that uses an optical coating very similar to that used in the ABL’s laser. When conditions are such that the cavity begins to deteriorate due to accumulation of contamination, the operator is immediately alerted, fast enough to avoid damage to the primary laser optics. The monitoring system functions on a microsecond timescale, can operate continuously for months at a time, and can detect destructive gases or particulates at parts-per-million to parts-per-billion sensitivity levels.

Read more on the MDA TechUpdate website.

October 22, 2007 

Novawave's President and CEO, Dr James Scherer, authored an article in the October 2007 issue of Laser Focus World:

NONLINEAR OPTICS: Quasi-phase-matched DFG lasers for sensing enter the market

Based on an all-fiber-coupled architecture, in which light is launched from solid-state lasers into poled nonlinear media, commercial quasi-phase-matched difference-frequency-generation lasers hit the 3 to 4 µm spectral “sweet spot” for sensing applications.

Read more at Laser Focus World

May 14, 2007

NovaWave Technologies wins DoE Phase I SBIR grant to develop real-time, multispecies greenhouse gas sensor

The Department of Energy (DoE) today selected NovaWave Technologies of Redwood City, California, to develop a compact, low-cost, and highly reliable multispecies trace gas sensor. "Such sensors are presently required for improving our understanding of global climate change, for monitoring greenhouse gas emissions, and for a variety of industrial process control applications. " says CEO and Principal Investigator of the project, Dr. James Scherer. "In particular, highly accurate and robust sensors that are capable of monitoring fluxes and concentrations of multiple trace greenhouse gases such as methane and carbon dioxide are needed." Dr. Scherer explained.

The proposed sensor is based on a new, high performance mid-infrared laser source. "This laser will possess many desirable qualities, including high reliability, excellent beam quality, compact size, low power consumption, and room-temperature single-frequency operation at multiple wavelengths." says Dr. Joshua Paul, co-founder of NovaWave Technologies. "This laser will be combined with a rugged, miniaturized gas sampling system to enable long-term measurements of trace gas fluxes and concentrations in field settings."

During this Phase I project, the new, highly efficient, mid-infrared laser source will be constructed and fully characterized. In a next step, the source will be used in conjunction with a compact gas sampling system to demonstrate the fast and accurate determination of atmospherically relevant gas mixtures. Finally, designs for a fully automated multispecies Phase II sensor will be produced.

Dr. H.J. Jost, Director of Environmental Sensing at NovaWave Technologies, adds that the commercial applications of the proposed sensor include trace gas monitoring at AmeriFlux and FLUXNET sites, greenhouse gas monitoring for emissions compliance, hydrocarbon leak detection, and applications in a variety of industrial process control settings.

November 17, 2006

NovaWave Technologies Wins NASA Phase I Grant to Develop Compact, Dual Channel, Mid-IR Laser Spectrometer

The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) today announced the selection of a SBIR Phase I proposal by NovaWave Technologies (Redwood City, CA). The proposal seeks to develop a dual channel, compact mid-infrared laser spectrometer for planetary atmosphere exploration. "The device will be capable of measuring trace gases at 3.3 and 4.6 microns without the need for cryogens. By using novel, fiber-coupled, solid state lasers, performance will be improved over traditional tunable diode laser sensors", said the PI of the project, Dr. H.J. Jost. The device could potentially be used for the interrogation of extraterrestrial atmospheres for trace gas species, as well as in the study of Earth's atmosphere. The proposed instrument will have applications in atmospheric chemistry and satellite validation during long duration flights performed on uninhabited aerial vehicles (UAV). "

The sensor platform NovaWave Technologies proposes to develop during Phase I and Phase II has numerous potential applications in trace gas monitoring, pollution monitoring, industrial process control, and medical diagnostics", explains James J. Scherer, President and CEO. "NASA selected this proposal together with 259 others out of 1709 submitted recognizing the cutting edge technology proposed by NovaWave Technologies."

November 1, 2006 

The IRIS™ 1000 is a tunable laser system that provides high purity single longitudinal and transverse mode laser light in the signature C-H, N-H, and O-H stretching regions of the middle infrared. Traditionally, this region has only been accessible with either cryogenic lead-salt diode lasers or complex and expensive OPO-based systems, both of which have significant drawbacks. The IRIS™ 1000 thus provides the first low cost, turnkey solution for generating tunable laser light in this important spectral region, which is presently not accessible using emerging quantum cascade (QC) laser devices.

The cryogen-free IRIS™ laser system features tunability in the 3.3 micron region, with external modulation capability for spectroscopic applications. The system features output powers in the 100W to mW level, which is more than adequate for gas sensing applications. The system includes a compact, remote laser head with a built-in copropagating visible alignment laser, an on-board touch screen computer interface, and built-in Ethernet capability for remote control. The IRIS™ platform is designed to provide frequency agility for the end-user, with an signal (DFB) laser access panel that enables the user to rapidly generate new wavelengths. A single laser head can access approximately 100cm-1 using a few off-the-shelf DFB lasers, while a second head can also be added to provide an additional 100cm-1 of coverage. The system produces linewidths of a few MHz with mode-hop free tuning, circumventing many of the drawbacks of the previous laser technologies that are capable of accessing the middle infrared. “

The capabilities of IRIS™ 1000 bring new and powerful opportunities to a much broader customer base than previous middle infrared lasers, which have required the use of cryogens or are simply too complex for many end-users”, said James J. Scherer, NovaWave’s President and CEO. “The Iris™1000 is a turnkey solution that will have immediate applications for high resolution molecular spectroscopy, gas sensing, metrology, and chemical analysis. We specifically designed the system with the spectroscopist in mind. Having spent many years ourselves working with cumbersome middle infrared lasers, we wanted to provide a unique solution that leveraged the significant benefits from existing telecom-derived solid state lasers, such as room-temperature operation, long lifetime, and ease of use. The IRIS DFG platform translates these attributes into the middle infrared region, thereby enabling the researcher to focus more on research than the lasers themselves”, states Dr. Scherer. “We have combined our expertise in non-linear optical materials, diode and fiber lasers, and spectroscopy to produce the IRIS platform, which we will continue to extend to new wavelength regions. Our goal is to eventually employ these lasers in turnkey sensor platforms as well as provide OEM versions to other end-users”, states Dr. Scherer. “We are very excited about this new technology, and are convinced that it will enable many new applications in the desirable middle infrared”.

The IRIS 1000 is presently configured for operation in the 3.2-3.5 micron spectral region, while work is also underway to extend this tuning range to include other important middle infrared regions.

Second Quarter CY 2005 

NovaWave Technologies (Redwood City, CA) has recently reached the $1M milestone for commercial product sales, comprising a combination of specialty optical components and diagnostic instruments. “Since founding of the company, we have been focused on gaining early market traction in parallel with our R&D incubation projects, so achieving the $1M milestone two years after setting up operations is very rewarding for us”, states James Scherer, NovaWave’s President and CEO. “Our goal is to significantly grow commercial revenues in the next few years, and we believe that we will achieve this as our numerous R&D programs move into commercialization and production phases. We have assembled a first-rate, seasoned engineering and product development team to work to this end, and are very excited about our new products coming down the pipe.”

NovaWave expects to hit sales targets primarily in its laser and chemical sensor technologies, culminating its stepwise commercialization strategy to offer complete, integrated sensor solutions. According to Dr. Joshua Paul, NovaWave’s Vice President and CTO, “We decided since founding the company to focus on solving some critical problems related to core laser technologies, and are now beginning to see the fruits of our labor as functional prototypes show great promise for full scale commercialization. NovaWave’s core competencies in laser technologies and laser-based sensing methods are coalescing to provide unique sensor platforms that we believe will outperform existing technologies, opening up a vast array of applications and markets”. NovaWave is now developing refined sensor systems at the pre-production prototype level, and anticipates launching its first integrated sensors in CY2006. The company also plans to launch novel laser subsystems in early CY2006, primarily as R&D tools for the broader scientific community.

October 20, 2005

NovaWave Technologies (Redwood City, CA) has recently been selected for a NASA SBIR Phase II contract that will focus on the development of a precise and accurate CO2 sensor for atmospheric monitoring applications. The sensor leverages NovaWave’s success in developing non-cryogenic infrared laser sources that are spectrally pure, wavelength agile, and compact. “The need for accurate, real-time greenhouse gas sensors is acute, yet such systems must achieve an absolute accuracy of better than one part in 1000 to be of much use for quantitative monitoring, which presents a formidable challenge”, according to Dr. Joshua Paul, NovaWave’s Vice President. “During Phase I, we demonstrated an accuracy level consistent with this need using a breadboard apparatus, which exhibited some long-term drift issues. We are confident that the refined Phase II version will address these problems, resulting in an environmentally robust sensor that can be reliably used in quantitative atmospheric studies. The potential to further refine the sensor for autonomous field sensing is enormous, and will be our focus as we re-engineer the core subsystems to be more robust.”

The Phase II prototype will ultimately be delivered and installed at NASA AMES, in Mountain View, CA, where it will be used for laboratory as well as potentially flight studies. NovaWave envisions Phase III versions that could be used, for example, in the Ameriflux distributed sensor network, potentially leading to significant sales. According to Dr. James Scherer, NovaWave’s CEO, “The cross-cutting nature of the sensor platform enables it to be adapted for numerous real-time sensing applications, ranging from homeland defense to clinical diagnostics. Additionally, we are presently working on a commercial version of the core laser subsystem, which will provide a turnkey tool for spectroscopists across many disciplines. This laser will constitute the first commercial system of its kind that we are aware of, providing users with enormous frequency agility at a very competitive price point”. NovaWave will focus on constructing and extensively testing the sensor during the Phase II program in order to hit the accuracy targets for the sensor over a range of environmental conditions, thereby enhancing the effort to produce autonomous commercial versions.

October 1, 2005

NovaWave Technologies (Redwood City, CA) has recently been awarded an NSF SBIR Phase II Research Grant worth approximately $500K to develop a novel, ultrasensitive explosives sensor based on the company’s new, fiber-based laser system. The two-year program will first focus on demonstrating a new rapid scan laser technology, followed by integration of this source with an ultrasensitive spectroscopic method. “We see the potential to either enhance or replace existing Ion Mobility Spectroscopy (IMS)-based systems with this new technology, and have targeted specific screening applications for initial development”, states Dr. James Scherer, NovaWave’s President and CEO. “If the program achieves all of its goals, we will have developed an explosives sensor capable of detecting sub-picogram levels of the most common classes of explosives, as well as have demonstrated a powerful new laser technology that can be leveraged for other sensor applications.”

The follow-on Grant to the Phase I project, wherein the fundamental core technologies of the sensor were demonstrated, will comprise prototype construction and possible testing alongside established sensors, working closely with an industry leader in explosives detection systems. “We seek to compare our approach directly with established sensors in order to compare performance as well as identify possible orthogonal sensing capabilities, which could significantly enhance systems presently deployed in the field”, states Dr. Scherer. “We have received great interest from industry in this project, and are establishing industry partnerships that will foster the rapid transition of our technology into the marketplace if successfully developed during Phase II.” NovaWave is optimistic that the project will lead to an autonomous sensor with no consumables that can screen for explosives in a timescale of a few seconds, thereby enabling the technology to be used for passenger and cargo screening applications.

Redwood City, CA
NovaWave Technologies Wins $1.6M in Army Contracts to Develop Chemical and Biological Agent Sensors for Air and Water Monitoring Applications

NovaWave Technologies (Redwood City, CA) has been awarded two Army SBIR Phase II Research Grants with a combined value of approximately $1.6M. The two projects will focus on developing water and air sensor systems primarily for the detection of chemical and biological warfare agents, respectively. The projects focus on the sensitive detection as well as discrimination of BW/CW agents in mixed matrices, with detection limits approaching the single molecule/particle limit. The projects will focus on monitoring pathogens and chemicals in water supply systems and real-time air monitoring for the furtive releases of aerosolized threats. Both projects could provide critical early warning systems for possible terrorist events. “

We have spent a great deal of time demonstrating the core technologies employed in both of these projects, and are thrilled that the Army has recognized the potential for highly selective and sensitive sensors based on these platforms,” states Dr. Stephen Holler, Director of R&D. “In both projects, the impact on existing monitoring systems presently in use for homeland defense could be significant, resulting in widespread use of the technology.” The two-year programs are anticipated to begin by the end of 2005, while interim period “option” funding has begun to bridge the gaps in funding between Phase I and Phase II. “Our focus during the programs will be to demonstrate the core sensor technologies as well as iron out issues related to manufacturing the systems on a larger scale,” states Dr. Scherer, NovaWave’s CEO. “In some applications, our ultimate goal is to insert these technologies into existing Government sensor procurements as possible ‘upgrade’ technologies, working with larger Government Primes for integration, distribution, and support. These SBIR projects include tests at facilities such as Aberdeen Proving Grounds in Edgewood MD, where the efficacy on real agents can be put to the test in a safe manner.”

NovaWave hopes to subsequently commercialize the technologies and secure additional funding to focus on issues including sensor refinement, design for manufacture, and developing specific embodiments for early market penetration in clinical applications.