Longwave Photonics LLC

Longwave Photonics LLC, an Asian-Pacific American-owned and minority-owned small business based in Mountain View, California, develops and manufactures terahertz quantum cascade laser (QCL) systems and components for federal research agencies as a 100% prime contractor. The company competes under total small business set-asides for SBIR Phase I, II, and III awards and under full-and-open procurements for direct equipment sales to NIST.

Longwave Photonics' capability portfolio centers on advanced terahertz photonics — specifically terahertz quantum cascade lasers, quantum cascade laser chips, terahertz heterodyne spectrometers, and high-power terahertz local oscillators designed for space-based and ground-based measurement applications. Representative work includes a $340 thousand SBIR Phase III award from NASA's Shared Services Center for development of a Terahertz Heterodyne Spectrometer (THSIRU) to support space-based applications, a $225 thousand Phase I SBIR award for a receiver development project for space weather atomic oxygen measurement, and multiple NIST purchases totaling over $280 thousand for terahertz quantum cascade laser systems and components supporting the Physical Measurement Lab's Sources and Detectors Group. Longwave's equipment supports NIST research in absolute reflectance measurements of carbon nanotube coatings and terahertz frequency detector characterization, and NASA applications in deep space navigation and space-weather sensing.

NASA's Shared Services Center dominates the customer concentration, accounting for 13 awards (92% of award count) with $3.9 million combined potential value — substantially larger than the next customer, the Department of the Army Materiel Command Research Development and Engineering Command, which holds 3 awards worth $2.3 million. The five top customer agencies account for 92% of awards across NASA Shared Services Center, the Department of Commerce National Institute of Standards and Technology, the Department of the Army, the National Science Foundation, and NASA Kennedy Space Center. The award portfolio emphasizes space R&D services and basic research (9 awards under PSC space R&D services codes), analytical laboratory instrumentation (4 awards), and physical and engineering sciences R&D (12 awards across related NAICS codes).

Activity has been modest and uneven — 26 total awards over sixteen years, with one award in 2022, two in 2023, three in 2024, one in 2025, and one in September 2026 — yielding $7.5 million in combined potential value against $9 million obligated. The company holds no subcontracts and no positions on government-wide vehicles. One award (the current-year Phase I receiver development contract worth $225 thousand) faces completion within the next twenty-four months and carries recompete risk.