LONGWAVE PHOTONICS LLC

Mountain View, CA · Aerospace · Private

High operating temperature terahertz quantum cascade lasers for lunar surface volatile detection

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Updated Oct 23, 2026 · longwavephotonics.com

Sector: Aerospace
Headquarters: Mountain View, CA
Total capital: $9.4M

Federal grants: $5.4M; 12 awards · 2015–2026; Rank in peer group#80 of 155
Private capital raised: None on recordNo Form D filings on SEC EDGAR. Some raises are not filed.
Federal contracts: $4.1M; 16 awards · NASA, Defense, Commerce; Rank in Aerospace#370 of 1335
Granted patents: 1; 2 pending · first 2015; Rank in peer group#60 of 155

Capital timeline

Latest events

Sep 2026Federal grantNASA · Phase I · SBIR Phase I - Receiver For Space Weather Atomic Oxygen Measurement$225K
Apr 2025Federal contractCommerce · Qcl Laser Module$30K
Aug 2024Federal contractCommerce · Thz Quantum Cascade Laser System$111K
Apr 2024Federal contractCommerce · Cascade Laser Chip$30K
Feb 2024Federal contractNASA · SBIR Phase III - Thsiru - Terahertz Heterodyne Spectrometer$340K
Jul 2023Federal grantNASA · Phase I · High-Efficiency Terahertz Source$150K
Jul 2023Federal contractCommerce · This If For The Purchase Of One (1) Thz Quantum Cascade Laser.$108K

Show 21 earlier federal awards

Apr 2022Federal contractNASA · EO14042 SBIR Phase III High-power Thz Quantum-cascade Vecsel Based Local Oscillator$83K
Sep 2021Federal grantDefense · Phase II · Tunable Active HEterodyneHEterodyneTerahertz Imaging (TAHETI)$1.1M
Aug 2021Federal grantHealth and Human S · Phase I · Allosteric Drug Discovery using Quantum Cascade Laser based Anisotropic THz Microscope (QCL-ATM)$257K
Jul 2021Federal grantHealth and Human S · Phase I · Allosteric Drug Discovery using Quantum Cascade Laser based Anisotropic THz Microscope (QCL-ATM)$257K
May 2021Federal grantNASA · Phase I · Wideband THz Local Oscillator$125K
Mar 2020Federal contractNASA · EASYQCL-100 System (SN51017) 6 Month System Lease$12K
Aug 2019Federal grantNASA · Phase I · Laser Sources for Frequency Calibration of Far-Infrared Spectrometers$125K
Aug 2019Federal grantNASA · Phase II · High-Power THz Quantum-Cascade VECSEL based Local Oscillator$746K
Aug 2019Federal contractNASA · NASA And NASA Funded Missions/instruments Such As Aura/mls (microwave Limb Sounder), Sofia/upgreat And STO/STO-2 Have Demonstrated The Need For Local Oscillator (lo) Sources Between 30 And 300 Um (1 And 10 Thz).$829K
Sep 2018Federal grantDefense · Phase II · High Dynamic Range Heterodyne Terahertz Imager$529K
Sep 2018Federal contractDefense · STTR Phase II$1M
Jul 2018Federal contractNASA · NASA And NASA Funded Missions/instruments Such As Aura/mls (microwave Limb Sounder), Sofia/upgreat And STO/STO-2 Have Demonstrated The Need For Local Oscillator (lo) Sources Between 30 And 300 Um (1 And 10 Thz). For OBSERVATIONS>2 Thz, Technologically Mature Microwave Sources Typically Have Microwatt Power Levels Which Are Insufficient To Act As Los For A Heterodyne Receiver. Longwave Photonics Is Proposing To Develop A High Power, Phase/frequency-locked, Single Mode, Thz Qc-vecsel Quantum Casca$125K
May 2018Federal grantNASA · Phase II · Tunable, High-Power Terahertz Quantum Cascade Laser Local Oscillator$750K
Jul 2017Federal grantDefense · Phase I · Tunable Active HEterodyne Terahertz Imager (TAHETI)$150K
Jun 2017Federal contractNASA · Igf::ot::igf NASA And NASA Funded Missions/instruments Such As Aura/mls (microwave Limb Sounder), Sofia/great And STO/STO-2 Have Demonstrated The Need For Local Oscillator (lo) Sources Between 30 And 300 Um (1 And 10 Thz). For OBSERVATIONS>2 Thz, Technologically Mature Microwave Sources Typically Have Microwatt Power Levels Which Are Insufficient To Act As Los For A Heterodyne Receivers. Longwave Photonics Is Proposing To Develop A High Power, Frequency Tunable, Phase/frequency-locked, Single Mo$125K
Jul 2015Federal contractDefense · Igf::ot::igf STTR Phase 1$150K
Jun 2015Federal grantNASA · Phase II · Terahertz Quantum Cascade Laser Local Oscillator$900K
May 2015Federal contractDefense · One EASYQCL-1000 System.$141K
Jun 2014Federal contractNASA · Igf::ot::igf NASA Has A Need For Airborne Or Space-based Observatories And Remote Sensors In Order To Penetrate The Opaque Atmosphere Between 1 And 10 Thz. For OBSERVATIONS>2 Thz, Technologically Mature Microwave Sources Typically Have Microwatt Power Levels Which Are Insufficient To Act As Los For A Heterodyne Receiver. Longwave Photonics Is Proposing To Develop A Compact, Frequency Agile, Frequency Locked, Single Mode Quantum Cascade Laser (qcl) System. The Distributed Feedback Grating (dfb) $125K
Jun 2011Federal contractNASA · Longwave Photonics Proposes A Terahertz Quantum-cascade Laser Based Swept-source Optical Coherence Tomography (thz Ss-oct) System For Single-sided, 3D, Nondestructive Evaluation (nde) Of Non-conductive Materials. The Thz Ss-oct System Uses A Frequency Tunable Qcl Array To Generate An Interferometric Signal Between A Reference Mirror, And A Sample. An Algorithm Is Used To Transform This Signal Into Depth Information Of The Interfaces Within The Sample. Phase I Demonstrated The Feasibility Of Meas$750K
Feb 2010Federal contractNASA · The NASA Constellation Program Has A Need To Non-destructively Test (ndt) Non-metallic Materials (foams, Shuttle Tile, Avcoat, Etc) For Defects Such As Delaminations And Voids. While Imaging Systems At Terahertz Frequencies (0.3 To 3 Thz) Have Been Demonstrated For 2D Imaging Of Similar Materials, They Have Not Yet Demonstrate Full 3D Volumetric Imaging. To Meet This Need, Longwave Photonics Proposes To Use High-power, Low-frequency Terahertz Quantum Cascade Lasers (qcls) Developed At Mit, To De$99K

Node area is scaled to amount. Form D reports securities sold, which can differ from an announced round; filings are numbered in the order they were made.

Standing among 155 peers

Line = median

Aerospace · Orbital_ops · Device

Federal grantsBelow median
Granted patents#60 · top 39%

Cumulative measures favor older companies. Rankings describe position today, not outcome. Below the median, ranks show as a band rather than a number.

Founders and team

No founders are linked to this company yet.

Founders appear once a person is matched to the company through its own patents, grants or filings. We never infer people from social profiles.

Checked: USPTO inventors; federal award principal investigators; SEC Form D related persons · Oct 23, 2026

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What it has protected

USPTO · 1 granted of 3

May 19, 2015GrantedEfficient Third-Order Distributed Feedback Laser with Enhanced Beam PatternUSPTOUS 9,036,674
PendingMulti-spectral Terahertz Source And Imaging SystemUSPTOApplication PCTUS2013032611
PendingEfficient Third-order Distributed Feedback Laser With Enhanced Beam PatternUSPTOApplication PCTUS2013029147

D&P L.L.C.Similar federal contract value in Aerospace · $4.1M in contracts
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Array LabsSimilar federal contract value in Aerospace · $4.1M in contracts
STRATONICS INCSimilar federal contract value in Aerospace · $4.1M in contracts
SPACE LAB TECHNOLOGIES, LLCSimilar federal contract value in Aerospace · $4M in contracts
TEXAS HIGH ENERGY MATERIALS, LLCSimilar federal contract value in Aerospace · $4M in contracts

Regulatory activity · Aerospace

Sector-level, not company-level

06 Jul 2026Nondiscrimination in Federally Assisted Programs of NASA-Effectuation of Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964National Aeronautics and Space Administration
01 Jul 2026Special Conditions: AMAC Aerospace, The Boeing Company Model 747- 8 Airplane; Side-Facing SeatsFederal Aviation Administration
26 Jun 2026Standard Instrument Approach Procedures, and Takeoff Minimums and Obstacle Departure Procedures; Miscellaneous AmendmentsFederal Aviation Administration
23 Jun 2026Operating Limitations at John F. Kennedy International AirportFederal Aviation Administration
23 Jun 2026Operating Limitations at New York LaGuardia AirportFederal Aviation Administration
18 Jun 2026Special Conditions: Honeywell Aerospace US LLC, Dassault Aviation Model Falcon 900EX Airplane; Electronic System Security Protection From Unauthorized External AccessFederal Aviation Administration

Rules are matched to sector, not to company. Recent activity in a sector is context rather than a signal about this business — until rules are matched to what a company actually builds, the section is shown as context and nothing more.

Sources

Federal grants from SBIR/STTR, NIH, NSF and DoD records. Federal contracts from USAspending.gov. Private capital from SEC Form D. Patents from USPTO. Publications from OpenAlex. Regulatory activity from the Federal Register. Press matched on company name.

How to read this page

Figures show associations in public records, not causes or predictions. Nothing here is investment advice. An em-dash means no record was found under this company's name, not that none exists.

Data freshness

SEC Form D filings through Oct 23, 2026. SBIR and STTR awards through Oct 21, 2026.