Great Lakes Crystal Technologies (GLCT), a high-tech startup in Michigan’s Capitol Region, has won an Air Force Phase II Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) award based on their proposal entitled “Diamond Materials for Quantum Technologies” which was submitted towards Special Topic AF19C-T010 entitled “Open Call for Science and Technology Created by Early-Stage (e.g. University) Teams.”
Diamond is being researched worldwide for its ability to host color centers which have exciting magneto-optical properties which can be leveraged for a number of quantum technology applications including quantum communications, quantum computing, and quantum sensors.
GLCT’s Director of Crystal Growth Dr. Paul Quayle is the Principal Investigator for the project which includes Michigan State University (MSU) as the Research Institution. MSU’s team is led by Professor Elias Garratt and includes Professor Timothy Grotjohn who is a co-founder of GLCT. The team also hopes to engage the Fraunhofer USA Center for Coatings and Diamond Technologies (Fraunhofer USA CCD) for select professional services.
This Phase II effort follows an innovative Phase I effort focused on customer discovery which helped the same GLCT-MSU team better understand the interests of Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL) in quantum technology. A primary goal of the Phase II project is to advance diamond substrate manufacturing technology especially as it relates to the ability to support epitaxial overgrowth of quantum grade diamond layers of interest to AFRL scientists in the Nanoelectronic Materials Branch of the Materials and Manufacturing Directorate (AFRL/RXAN).
GLCT’s president and CEO Keith Evans commented, “We applaud the vision of the AFWERX team for their novel approach to the SBIR/STTR program which emphasizes customer discovery in Phase I to elucidate what Air Force stakeholders want to see accomplished in a potential Phase II effort. And the strong guidance and deep technical insight we received from the AFRL/RXAN team proved instrumental in enabling us to put forth a compelling proposal to strengthen the domestic supply chain for an important class of diamond materials.”
The one-year project officially started on September 30, 2020.
About Great Lakes Crystal Technologies (GLCT)
GLCT is a spin out of the world-class diamond research collaboration between Michigan State University (MSU) and MSU-located Fraunhofer USA Center for Coatings and Diamond Technologies (CCD). GLCT’s mission is to become the leading supplier of high-performance diamond materials for advanced (non-gemstone) applications.
About Michigan State University (MSU)
Michigan State University is a member of the Association of American Universities and one of the top 100 research universities in the world and was founded in 1855. For more information about MSU visit https://msu.edu/.
About Fraunhofer USA
Fraunhofer USA, Inc. is a 501 (c) (3) not-for-profit organization dedicated to the advancement of applied research. Fraunhofer USA was founded in 1994 to conduct applied R & D for customers from industry and state government and the federal government in the United States. Partnering with Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft, Europe’s largest application-oriented research and development organization, Fraunhofer USA can offer both domestic and international resources to enhance its portfolio of R&D services. For more information, please visit www.fraunhofer.org.
