Resilient Ultra Short Pulsed Laser Sources - RFI

The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) Multi‑X Office is seeking early‑stage technical concepts for compact, rugged, millijoule‑class ultra‑short pulsed laser systems that can maintain mode‑locking under harsh environmental conditions and offer broad tunability. This is an information‑gathering effort (RFI); no contract award or funding is attached at this stage. Respondents are asked to describe potential architectures, performance metrics, ruggedization strategies, and tunability approaches, and to indicate how their ideas could influence future DARPA research directions. Submissions are limited to ten pages of technical content plus a cover and reference page, and must be delivered electronically by the deadline. • Desired system: portable, field‑able lasers delivering sub‑picosecond pulses with energies from µJ to mJ, repetition rates from kHz to GHz. • Emphasis on maintaining mode‑lock under vibration, temperature swings, and MIL‑STD‑810H‑type stresses. • Interest in chip‑scale photonics, adjustable wavelength, pulse width, and arbitrary waveform generation within a rugged package. • Submissions must be unclassified (unless pre‑coordinated for classified material) and follow strict formatting rules.