Beam steering with no moving parts.
An optical phased array works like a phased-array radar antenna, but for light. By independently controlling the phase of the optical signal emitted from each element in a large array of on-chip waveguides, we constructively interfere the wavefronts in a chosen direction, steering the beam electronically to any point within our field of regard.
Response time is in the millisecond range. No actuators, no motors, no mechanical wear. Our OPA design is the core of all three Vulcan products and the foundation of our photonic integration platform.
An entire optical system. One chip.
Every optical function, emission, waveguiding, phase modulation, beam combining, detection, is co-designed and fabricated as a single photonic integrated circuit. This integration is what enables Vulcan's low-SWaP profile: a photonic chip that fits in the palm of your hand replaces a bench of discrete optical components.
Integration also drives cost down at volume, photonic ICs are manufactured on scalable semiconductor processes, making the technology commercially viable in a way custom optical assemblies are not.
Jammers don't operate in the optical domain.
Free-space optical links at the wavelengths Vulcan operates on are physically invisible to RF sensing equipment. There is no electromagnetic emission to intercept. A Vulcan link cannot be detected by spectrum monitoring, cannot be jammed by RF jammers, and cannot be disrupted by electronic warfare systems that have no foothold in the optical domain. The beam is narrow and highly directional, interception is geometrically impractical without physical access to the line of sight.