This is a Department of Defense STTR contract topic (not a grant) for US for-profit small businesses with 500 or fewer employees to develop a telecom-band geometric (Berry-phase) laser amplifier. You must partner with a US nonprofit research institution or university that performs at least 30% of the work. If you are a nonprofit, a business too large, or a company without a research-institution partner and photonics R&D capability, do not bother.
| Industry | Estimated fit |
|---|---|
| Technology & SoftwareMatches your industry (tech, sbir, sttr) | 71 |
| Healthcare & BiotechLimit: Primarily for minority-owned businesses | 51 |
| Energy & Clean TechLimit: Primarily for minority-owned businesses | 47 |
| Housing & Real EstateLimit: Primarily for minority-owned businesses | 42 |
| Transportation & LogisticsLimit: Primarily for minority-owned businesses | 42 |
| Construction & InfrastructureLimit: Primarily for minority-owned businesses | 41 |
| Industry | Estimated fit |
|---|---|
| ManufacturingLimit: Primarily for minority-owned businesses | 41 |
| Retail & E-CommerceLimit: Primarily for minority-owned businesses | 41 |
| Agriculture & FarmingLimit: Primarily for minority-owned businesses | 39 |
| Food & BeverageLimit: Primarily for minority-owned businesses | 38 |
| Finance & BankingLimit: Primarily for minority-owned businesses | 37 |
| Arts & CultureLimit: This program does not accept nonprofit applicants. | 0 |
| Education & TrainingLimit: This program does not accept nonprofit applicants. | 0 |
| Environment & ConservationLimit: This program does not accept nonprofit applicants. | 0 |
| Social Services & NonprofitLimit: This program does not accept nonprofit applicants. | 0 |
These are our matcher’s estimates for a typical business in each industry. A real match depends on your size, your state and what you need the money for — check your own fit.
DoD STTR topic for US small businesses (500 or fewer employees) to develop a telecom-band geometric (Berry-phase) laser amplifier using modulated coupled fiber-loop resonators. STTR requires partnering with a US nonprofit research institution or university performing at least 30% of the work. Funded as a contract, Phase I and II.
Present-day devices for amplifying telecom laser light mostly produce gain by incoherently pumping a medium (optically or electrically), or by coherently pumping a nonlinear medium with a laser. Both approaches are technologically mature, and offer a range of performance tradeoffs. In contrast, geometric amplification is a gain mechanism that has only been recently proposed, and to date it has only been demonstrated in the acoustic domain [1]. However, the principle of geometric amplification can be applied to any domain. It can be realized using coupled resonators consisting only of linear, lossy components, so long as they can be modulated at a frequency comparable to the resonators’ decay rate [1]. In the telecom domain, this can be accomplished using a pair of fiber loops that include electrically tunable phase shifters that can be modulated at ~ 1 MHz. The adiabatic evolution associated with this relatively slow modulation (together with the components’ intrinsic loss) results in the accumulation of a geometric (Berry) phase [2,3] whose complex part can be engineered to provide gain [1,4,5]. Geometric gain differs existing forms of amplification in several respects, including that it achieves photon-number gain through rf modulation. This may offer practical advantages in terms of reduced device complexity, size, and power consumption.
Program: STTR, Phase I and Phase II Agency: Department of War, Office of the Secretary of Defense Topic number: OSW26TZ06-NV004 Solicitation: 26.TZ Released September 2, 2026; proposals accepted from September 23, 2026 Closes October 21, 2026. Check the official solicitation for the exact due time. Award type: contract, not a grant. Official solicitation: https://www.dodsbirsttr.mil/topics-app/ Listed on SBIR.gov: https://www.sbir.gov/topics/12993. SBIR.gov copies agency solicitations and can lag behind them; the official solicitation is the final word.
Small businesses only: a for-profit US business with 500 or fewer employees, including affiliates.
More than 50% owned and controlled by US citizens or permanent residents (some agencies also accept majority ownership by venture capital, hedge fund or private equity firms; the solicitation says).
SBIR: the principal investigator is primarily employed by the business. STTR: the business partners with a US nonprofit research institution or university, which does at least 30% of the work.
Registered in SAM.gov before submitting.
Check the official solicitation for its own conditions, proposal limits and security review.
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