CaF₂ - CaF₂ prism - CaF₂ lenses- custom - Ge - ZnSe - dia3.5 - ZnSe rhomb - ZnSe slides - ZnSe vacuum viewports - ZnSe cylindrical optics - ZnSe hemicylindrical prism, 25.4 mm - Zinc Selenide rhomb - Germanium viewport - BaF2 lens - BaF₂
meniscus lenses made of AMTIR-C1 and Germanium substrates with AR/AR coating at 3-5 and 8-12 microns

Reques custom IR optics

Infrared detectors overview in the short-wave infrared to far-infrared for CLARREO mission
Paper 7808-29 of Conference 7808
Date: Monday, 02 August 2010

Author(s): M. Nurul Abedin, Martin G. Mlynczak, David G. Johnson, Alan D. Little, NASA Langley Research Ctr. (United States)


Abstract There is a considerable interest exist in the broadband detectors for CLARREO Mission, which can be used to detect CO2, O3, H2O, and other trace gases. Detections of these species are critical for understanding the Earth's atmosphere, atmospheric chemistry, and systemic forcing driving climactic changes. Discussions are focused on current and the most recent developing detectors in SWIR-to-Far infrared detectors for CLARREO space-based instrument to measure the above-mentioned species. These detector components will make instruments designed for these critical detections more efficient while reducing complexity and associated electronics and weight. We will review the on-going detector technology efforts in the SWIR to Far-IR regions at different organizations in this study.
Course: Infrared Systems - Technology & Design
Date: Monday, 02 August 2010

Instructor(s): Arnold Daniels, Lockheed Martin Co. (United States)


This course covers the range of topics necessary to understand the theoretical principles of modern infrared-technology. It combines numerous engineering disciplines necessary for the development of infrared systems. Practical engineering calculations are highlighted, with examples of trade studies illustrating the interrelationships among the various hardware characteristics. This course is comprised of four sections: Section 1 introduces the geometrical optics concepts including image formation, stops and pupils, thick lenses and lens combinations, image quality, and the properties of infrared materials. Section 2 covers the essentials of radiometry necessary for the quantitative understanding of infrared signatures and flux transfer. These concepts are then developed and applied to flux-transfer calculations for blackbody, graybody, and selective radiator sources. Remote temperature calibrations and measurements are then used as an illustration of these radiometric principles. Section 3 is devoted to fundamental background issues for optical detection-processes. It compares the characteristics of cooled and uncooled detectors with an emphasis on spectral and blackbody responsivity, detectivity (D*), as well as the noise mechanisms related to optical detection. The detector parameters and capabilities of single detectors and third generation focal plane arrays (FPAs) are analyzed. With this acquired background, Section 4 considers the systems-design aspects of infrared imagers. The impact of scan format on signal-to-noise ratio is described, and the engineering tradeoffs inherent in the development of infrared search and track (IRST) systems are explained. Figures of merit such as MTF, NETD, and MRTD of staring arrays are examined for the performance metrics of thermal sensitivity and spatial resolution of thermal imaging systems (TIS). Contrast threshold functions based on Johnson and visible cycles (often denoted as N- and V-cycles) are specified. The interrelationships among the design parameters are identified through trade-study examples.
Radiation detection from near-infrared to mid-infrared based on frequency upconversion
Paper 7817-10 of Conference 7817
Date: Tuesday, 03 August 2010

Author(s): Ioulia B. Zotova, ArkLight, Inc. (United States); Yujie J. Ding, Lehigh Univ. (United States)


During this presentation, we will summary our recent progress on detection of radiation in the wavelength regions spanning from near-infrared to mid-infrared based on frequency upconversion in nonlinear materials. We will demonstrate that such a process is capable of reaching the single-photon detection limit.
Course: Multispectral and Hyperspectral Image Sensors
Date: Sunday, 01 August 2010

Instructor(s): Terrence S. Lomheim, The Aerospace Corp. (United States)


This course will describe the imaging capabilities and applications of the principal types of multispectral (MS) and hyperspectral (HS) sensors. The focus will be on sensors that work in the visible, near-infrared and shortwave-infrared spectral regimes, but the course will touch on longwave-infrared applications. A summary of the salient features of classical color imaging (human observation) will also be provided in an appendix.
Infrared research at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory
Paper 7808-1 of Conference 7808
Date: Sunday, 01 August 2010

Author(s): Sarath D. Gunapala, D. Z. Ting, C. J. Hill, J. Nguyen, A. Soibel, J. K. Liu, S. A. Keo, J. M. Mumolo, B. Yang, M. Lee, Jet Propulsion Lab. (United States)

No abstract available
Passively cooled LWIR and VLWIR HgCdTe-based infrared detectors
Paper 7808-2 of Conference 7808
Date: Sunday, 01 August 2010

Author(s): Silviu Velicu, Christoph H. Grein, EPIR Technologies, Inc. (United States); Jamie Philips, Univ. of Michigan (United States)


For geostationary and low-Earth orbital platforms, passive cooling systems are being developed to provide a suitable means to incorporate HgCdTe infrared detectors. However, in current generation passively-cooled detectors, Auger processes typically dominate the dark current. Device designs have been proposed to suppress Auger processes. In this work, we analyze the non-equilibrium operation of long wavelength and very long wavelength infrared devices and identify the performance improvements expected when Auger suppression occurs. We identify critical structure design, material and device requirements that must be satisfied for optimal characteristics. We describe our experimental work done to satisfy these requirements, with an emphasis on the molecular beam epitaxy growth of structures having absorber layers with low dopant densities and high minority carrier lifetimes. We will present an analysis and comparison of our theoretical and experimental non-equilibrium device results.
Performance of InAsSb-based infrared detectors with nBn design
Paper 7808-4 of Conference 7808
Date: Sunday, 01 August 2010

Author(s): Stephen A. Myers, Arezou Khoshakhlagh, Elena Plis, Maya N. Kutty, Ha Sul Kim, Nutan Gautam, Brianna Klein, Ctr. for High Technology Materials (United States); Sanjay Krishna, The Univ. of New Mexico (United States); Edward Smith, Raytheon Co. (United States)


Our group has investigated nBn detectors based on bulk InAsSb absorber (n) and contacts (n) with AlAsSb or AlGaSb barriers (B). The wide-band-gap barrier material exhibits a large conduction band offset and zero valence band offset with narrow-band-gap absorber material. An important matter to explore in this design is the barrier parameters in InAsSb-based nBn detectors (material, composition and doping concentration) and how they effect the operation of the device. This paper will investigate barriers composed of AlAsSb and AlGaSb materials with different compositions and doping levels and their effect on detector characteristics like dark current density and specific detectivity.
Growth and optimization of InAs/GaSb superlattice materials for mid-infrared detectors
Paper 7808-5 of Conference 7808
Date: Sunday, 01 August 2010

Author(s): Heather J. Haugan, Air Force Research Lab. (United States)


An InAs/GaSb Superlattice photodiode array that can operate in the mid-infrared transmission window has been of growing interest due to the potential for application in cameras operating at temperatures greater than 200 K. Despite the continuous progress in improving the quality of SL materials, the detectivities of InAs/GaSb SL detectors are still lower than those of commercial mercury cadmium telluride detectors. Most researchers believe that residual defects in the SL material shorten the minority carrier lifetime, thereby keep the device from reaching theoretical performance levels. Systematic growth optimization was performed in order to minimize residual background charge carriers. The effect of nonradiative defects and background carriers on the luminescence and transport qualities of our SL materials is reviewed.
Intersubband transitions in GaN-based quantum wells: a new materials platform for infrared device applications
Paper 7808-6 of Conference 7808
Date: Sunday, 01 August 2010

Author(s): Roberto Paiella, Boston Univ. (United States)


Due to their large conduction-band offsets, GaN/AlGaN quantum wells can accommodate intersubband transitions at record short wavelengths throughout the mid-infrared and into the near-infrared spectral regions. As a result, they are currently the subject of extensive research efforts aimed at extending the spectral reach and functionality of intersubband optoelectronic devices. This talk will review our recent work in this area, including the spectroscopic investigation of intersubband absorption in isolated and coupled quantum wells, the measurement of intersubband cross-absorption saturation and self-phase modulation, and the demonstration of optically pumped intersubband light emission at short-wave infrared wavelengths.
Room temperature spectroscopic characterisation of mid-infrared GaInSb quantum well laser structures
Paper 7755-11 of Conference 7755
Date: Sunday, 01 August 2010

Author(s): Natasha E. Fox, Thomas J. Hosea, Alexi D. Andreev, Univ. of Surrey (United Kingdom); Geoff R. Nash, Timothy Ashley, QinetiQ Ltd. (United Kingdom)


Three increasingly strained GaInSb/AlGaInSb type I multi quantum-well (QW) laser structures grown on GaAs, aimed at emitting at ~4m, are analysed using Fourier transform infrared surface photo-voltage spectroscopy. The measurements yielded the barrier bandgap, the QW ground state transition, from which the device operating wavelengths can be inferred, and up to five excited state QW transitions. All the measured transition energies are compared with those predicted by an 8-band k.p model which gives good agreement for the QW transitions, but indicates the current literature values for the AlGaInSb bandgap seem to be in considerable error for the present alloy compositions.
Infrared detectors for spaceborne laser receivers
Paper 7808-9 of Conference 7808
Date: Sunday, 01 August 2010

Author(s): Michael A. Krainak, NASA Goddard Space Flight Ctr. (United States)


Near-infrared detectors are required for numerous NASA future space-based laser receivers including science instruments and free-space optical communication terminals. Silicon avalanche photodiode (APD) detectors have been used in most space lidar receivers to date with a sensitivity that is typically hundreds of photons per pulse at 1064 nm. We have are investigating avalanche photodiode and photomultiplier based receivers from several US vendors as possible alternatives. We discuss the multi-year performance of the near-infrared detectors on the ICESat Geoscience Laser Altimeter System (GLAS) instrument launched in 2003 and several near-infrared detector technologies that are under evaluation for future NASA science instruments and free space laser communication terminals.
Infrared spectroscopy of thin layers under ultra-high vacuum conditions
Paper 7808-11 of Conference 7808
Date: Sunday, 01 August 2010

Author(s): Annemarie Pucci, Stephan Wetzel, Tobias Glaser, Robert Lovrincic, Ruprecht-Karls-Univ. Heidelberg (Germany)


We present new results from in-situ infrared spectroscopic studies of nanofilm growth. These studies, performed under ultra-high vacuum conditions with sub-monolayer sensitivity, exploited the relationship between morphology and structure on the one side and, on the other side, vibration excitations and plasmonic ones. The studies are performed within various projects ranging from astronomy and high-energy physics to organic electronics and plasmonics.
Infrared study of onset of metallicity and ferromagnetism in GaMnAs
Paper 7760-14 of Conference 7760
Date: Sunday, 01 August 2010

Author(s): Brian Chapler, Univ. of California, San Diego (United States); Roberto C. Myers, The Ohio State Univ. (United States); Shawn Mack, David D. Awschalom, Ebinazar B. Namdas, Jonathan D. Yuen, Alan J. Heeger, Univ. of California, Santa Barbara (United States); Nitin Samarth, The Pennsylvania State Univ. (United States); Michael C. Martin, Lawrence Berkeley National Lab. (United States); Kenneth S. Burch, Univ. of Toronto (Canada); Dmitri N. Basov, Univ. of California, San Diego (United States)


We have explored the phase diagram of GaMnAs by modifying charge density and quantifying its effect on the electronic structure and dynamics via infrared spectroscopic measurements. The similarity of all spectra suggests that the electronic structure does not vary dramatically across either the insulator-to-metal or ferromagnetic transition. In addition, temperature-dependent measurements reveal that ferromagnetic samples exhibit an enhanced spectral weight below T_C. This enhancement can be attributed to a reduction of the carrier mass, a feature which is not observed in paramagnetic GaMnAs.
High sensitivity semiconductor nanowire infrared detectors
Paper 7808-13 of Conference 7808
Date: Sunday, 01 August 2010

Author(s): Yu-Hwa Lo, Hongkwon Kim, Univ. of California, San Diego (United States)


We discuss semiconductor nanowire infrared detectors with high sensitivity approaching the quantum limit (i.e. single photon sensitivity). The optical absorption may occur between band-to-band transitions and/or band-to-bound state transitions. The high sensitivity is largely attributed to the built-in amplification mechanisms which may be through phototransistive gain and/or avalanche multiplication.
Short-wave infrared imaging spectrometer with simultaneous thermal imaging
Paper 7812-1 of Conference 7812
Date: Monday, 02 August 2010

Author(s): William R. Johnson, Daniel W. Wilson, Alex Diaz, Jet Propulsion Lab. (United States)


A computed tomorgraphic imaging spectrometer (CTIS) has been developed to allow simultaneous shortwave infrared (SWIR: 1-1.4um) spectral imaging and mid wave infrared (MWIR) 3-5um thermal imaging. The shortwave information in the higher diffraction orders was reconstructed using existing methodologies while a co-registered thermal image from the zeroth-order was analyzed. Co-registered contour maps of the shortwave information was displayed and processed for accurate retrieval of scene information. Spectral and radiometric test and evaluation results are presented for this new spectral imager and a general explanation is given for the theory of its tomographic operation.
MERTIS: thermal infrared imaging of Mercury: advances in mid-IR remote sensing technology
Paper 7808-16 of Conference 7808
Date: Monday, 02 August 2010

Author(s): Gabriele E. Arnold, Deutsches Zentrum für Luft- und Raumfahrt e.V. (Germany) and Institut für Planetologie, WWU Münster (Germany); Harald Hiesinger, Westfaelische Wilhelms Univ. (Germany); Jörn Helbert, Gisbert Peter, Ingo Walter, Deutsches Zentrum für Luft- und Raumfahrt e.V. (Germany)

No abstract available
MERTIS: understanding Mercury's surface composition from mid-infrared spectroscopy
Paper 7808-17 of Conference 7808
Date: Monday, 02 August 2010

Author(s): Joern Helbert, Deutsches Zentrum für Luft- und Raumfahrt e.V. (Germany); Harald Hiesinger, Westfaelische Wilhelms Univ. (Germany); Ingo Walter, Thomas Säuberlich, Alessandro Maturilli, Jörg Knollenberg, Deutsches Zentrum für Luft- und Raumfahrt e.V. (Germany); Helmut Hirsch, Astro- und Feinwerktechnik Adlershof GmbH (Germany); Eckehard Lorenz, Gisbert Peter, Deutsches Zentrum für Luft- und Raumfahrt e.V. (Germany); Gabriele E. Arnold, Westfaelische Wilhelms Univ. (Germany) and Deutsches Zentrum für Luft- und Raumfahrt e.V. (Germany)


The Mercury Radiometer and Thermal infrared Imaging Spectrometer MERTIS on the joint ESA-JAXA mission BepiColombo to Mercury is combining a spectrometer using an uncooled microbolometer in a pushbroom mode with a highly miniaturized radiometer. A full development model of MERTIS is now available. So, after three flybys of Mercury by the MESSENGER mission and with the Planetary Emissivity Laboratory at DLR in Berlin that can routinely obtain infrared emission spectra at high temperatures it is a good time to review the MERTIS science requirements and the performance in perspective of our new knowledge of Mercury.
Nanostructured infrared-sensitive solar cells: quantum dot-fullerene heterojunctions
Paper 7772-14 of Conference 7772
Date: Monday, 02 August 2010

Author(s): Ethan J. Klem, Jay Lewis, Chris Gregory, Dorota Temple, RTI International (United States)


Advances in the power conversion efficiency of organic heterjunction devices will require improved absorption in the infrared while maintaining high charge carrier mobilities. The use of solution processed quantum dots provides a potential route towards overcoming these limitations. In this work we present a planar device architecture based on the heterojunction formed between infrared-sensitive PbS quantum dots and C60 fullerenes. Under AM1.5 illumination the devices exhibit short circuit current densities greater than 20 mA/cm^2, power conversion efficiencies greater than 4%, and spectral sensitivity beyond 1400 nm.
Deep space instrument design for thermal infrared imaging with MERTIS
Paper 7808-18 of Conference 7808
Date: Monday, 02 August 2010

Author(s): Ingo Walter, Deutsches Zentrum für Luft- und Raumfahrt e.V. (Germany)


MERTIS is a miniaturized thermal infrared imaging spectrometer onboard of ESA's cornerstone mission BepiColombo to Mercury in the spectral range from 7-40 μm. The instrument concept therefore integrates two detector systems sharing a common optical path consisting of mirror entrance optics and reflective Offner spectrometer. Subsequent viewing of different targets including on-board calibration sources will provide the desired performance. The article will provide an overview of the 3 kg - instrument design and highlight the concept of the subsystems and technologies used. The status of the development process will be reported.
Efficiency improvement by near infrared quantum dots for luminescent solar concentrators
Paper 7772-15 of Conference 7772
Date: Monday, 02 August 2010

Author(s): Chunhua Wang, Roland Winston, Univ. of California, Merced (United States); David G. Pelka, Pelka & Associates, Inc. (United States); Weiya Zhang, Sayantani Ghosh, Georgiy S. Shcherbatyuk, Richard H. Inman, Univ. of California, Merced (United States); Yvonne Rodriguez, Sue Carter, Univ. of California, Santa Cruz (United States)


Quantum dot (QD) luminescent solar concentrator (LSCs) generally consists of a sheet of highly transparent materials doped with luminescent QDs materials. Sunlight is absorbed by these quantum dots and emitted through down conversion process with high quantum efficiency. The emitted light is trapped in the sheet and travels to the edges where it can be collected by photovoltaic solar cells. In this study, we investigate the performance of LSCs fabricated with near infrared quantum dots (QDs) (lead sulfide) and compare them with LSCs containing normal visible QDs (CdSe/ZnS), and with LSCs containing organic dyes (Rhodamine B).
Infrared signatures of high carrier densities induced in organic semiconductors by fluorinated organosilane molecules
Paper 7778-6 of Conference 7778
Date: Monday, 02 August 2010

Author(s): Omar Khatib, Univ. of California, San Diego (United States); Bumsu Lee, Rutgers, The State Univ. of New Jersey (United States); Jonathan Yuen, Univ. of California, Santa Barbara (United States); Zhiqiang Li, Columbia Univ. (United States); Massimiliano Di Ventra, Univ. of California, San Diego (United States); Alan Heeger, Univ. of California, Santa Barbara (United States); Vitaly Podzorov, Rutgers, The State Univ. of New Jersey (United States); Dimitri Basov, Univ. of California, San Diego (United States)


We present a thorough spectroscopic investigation of organic semiconductors that have been doped to a highly conducting state as a result of exposure to fluorinated trichlorosilane (FTS) vapors. In organic molecular crystals of Rubrene, FTS molecules are confined to the surface where they form a self-assembled monolayer. In conjugated polythiophenes, however, the FTS molecules penetrate into the bulk, leading to a rich spectrum of electronic excitations in the mid-IR range. Additionally, treated structures can be doped to high enough carrier densities to approach the metal-insulator transition (~10^14 holes/cm2), which results in the appearance of a Drude-like absorption in the far-IR
An experimental infrared sensor using adaptive coded apertures for enhanced resolution
Paper 7818A-5 of Conference 7818A
Date: Monday, 02 August 2010

Author(s): Neil T. Gordon, Geoff D. De Villiers, Kevin D. Ridley, Mark E. McNie, Ian K. Proudler, Rebecca A. Wilson, Kevin Gilholm, Lee Russell, David A. Huckridge, Christopher W. Slinger, QinetiQ Ltd. (United Kingdom)


Adaptive coded aperture imaging (ACAI) has the potential to enhance greatly the performance of sensing systems by allowing sub detector pixel image and tracking resolution. A small experimental system has been set up to allow the practical demonstration of these benefits in the mid infrared, as well as investigating the mixed physics optical modeling, the calibration and stability of the system. The demonstrator can use either fixed masks or a novel MOEMS adaptive transmissive spatial light modulator. This paper discusses the design and testing of the system including the development of novel decoding algorithms. Imaging and tracking results are presented.
Predicting top-of-atmosphere radiance for arbitrary viewing geometries from the visible to thermal infrared
Paper 7813-6 of Conference 7813
Date: Monday, 02 August 2010

Author(s): Stephen A. Cota, Linda S. Kalman, The Aerospace Corp. (United States)


In an earlier paper [Cota et al., Proc. SPIE 7087, 1-31 (2008)] we described how The Aerospace Corporation's Parameterized Image Chain Analysis & Simulation SOftware (PICASSO) may be used with a reflectance calibrated input scene in conjunction with a limited number of runs of AFRL's MODTRAN4 radiative transfer code, to quickly predict the top-of-atmosphere (TOA) radiance received by an earth viewing sensor for any arbitrary combination of solar and sensor elevation angles. In the present paper, we extend the method to the short and midwave IR, where reflected solar and emitted thermal radiation both contribute to the TOA radiance received by a downlooking sensor.
Payload-centric integration and test approach on the wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer mission
Paper 7796-7 of Conference 7796
Date: Monday, 02 August 2010

Author(s): Fengchuan Liu, Mohamed A. Abid, Valerie G. Duval, Peter R. Eisenhardt, Jet Propulsion Lab. (United States); John D. Elwell, Space Dynamics Lab. (United States); Ingolf H. Heinrichsen, William R. Irace, Jason LaPointe, Jet Propulsion Lab. (United States); Mark F. Larsen, Space Dynamics Lab. (United States); Mark Shannon, Nicholas Taylor, Ball Aerospace & Technologies Corp. (United States); Edward L. Wright, Univ. of California, Los Angeles (United States)


NASA's Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer (WISE) mission was successfully launched on December 14, 2009. All spacecraft subsystems and the single instrument consisting of four imaging bands from 3.4 to 22 microns, a 40 cm afocal telescope and reimaging optics, and a two-stage solid hydrogen cryostat have performed nominally on orbit, enabling the trouble-free survey of the entire infrared sky. Among the many factors that contributed to the WISE post-launch success is the system integration and test (I&T) approach tailored to the unique payload. The simple and straightforward interfaces between the spacecraft and the payload allowed the payload to be fully tested prior to integration with the spacecraft. A payload Thermal, Mass and Dynamic Simulator (TMDS) allowed the spacecraft I&T to proceed in parallel, including system-level thermal vacuum test and dynamic test. A payload electrical simulator and a high rate data processor enabled very early end-to-end data testing using engineering model payload electronics and spacecraft avionics, which allowed engineers to identify and fix firmware issues prior to building flight electronics. This paper describes in detail the unique WISE I&T approach, its benefits, challenges encountered, and lessons learned.


High-resolution infrared imaging
Paper 7782-6 of Conference 7782
Date: Monday, 02 August 2010

Author(s): Charles M. Falco, The Univ. of Arizona (United States)

Show Abstract
The hands and mind of an artist are intimately involved in the creative process of image formation, intrinsically making paintings complex to analyze. In spite of this difficulty, several years ago the painter David Hockney and I identified optical evidence within a number of paintings that demonstrated artists began using optical projections as early as c1425 -- nearly 175 years before Galileo -- as aids for producing portions of their images. In the course of our work, Hockney and I developed insights that I have been applying to a new approach to computerized image analysis. A direct result of this approach has been to identify from Impressionist paintings by Monet, Pissarro, Renoir and others the precise locations the artists stood when making a number of their paintings. An indirect result, that much of this lecture will be devoted to, has been the development of a high resolution infrared camera. As I will discuss, this camera has enabled me to capture IR reflectograms of hundreds of paintings in over a dozen museums on three continents so far, in a number of cases revealing marks made by the artists that have been hidden by paint ever since they were made. In some cases these marks provide key insights into decisions the artists made in creating the final images that we see in the visible. Acknowledgments: I am grateful to David Hockney for the many invaluable insights into imaging gained from him in our collaboration, and to the support of ARO and DARPA.
Quantitative analysis error source estimates for passive stand-off infrared chemical signatures using a high-throughput Fourier transform infrared spectrometer
Paper 7812-11 of Conference 7812
Date: Monday, 02 August 2010

Author(s): Robert T. Kroutil, Dynamac Corp. (United States); Paul E. Lewis, U.S. Government (United States); Sylvia S. Shen, The Aerospace Corp. (United States); David P. Miller, Northrop Grumman Information Technology (United States); Alan Cummings, Tetra Tech EM, Inc. (United States); Mark Thomas, Timothy Curry, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (United States)

Show Abstract
Quantitative analysis of passive infrared spectral signatures has been recently documented in a few open literature publications. During emergency response operations, it is useful to characterize the general level of concentration of a particular chemical vapor in order to quickly estimate a hazardous condition for first responders and the public. Error sources in the quantitative measurement of a gaseous species include a lack of understanding of the ground temperature, an unknown estimate of the emissivity of the surface, a lack of knowledge of the temperature of the gaseous plume, and a poor understanding of what the contribution of the intervening atmosphere has on the infrared signal. This paper addresses error estimation from these sources in order to provide a practical estimation of the accuracy associated with making a quantitative measurement of a chemical plume concentration.
Phase retrieval for thermal infrared systems
Paper 7800-12 of Conference 7800
Date: Monday, 02 August 2010

Author(s): Matthew R. Bolcar, Scott Rohrbach, John E. Mentzell, Michael J. Hersh, Adam J. Matuszeski, NASA Goddard Space Flight Ctr. (United States)

Show Abstract
Optical materials used for transmissive systems operating in the thermal infrared band (8-12 μm) tend to be soft, and easily deformed under mounting stress. Since these materials also tend to be poorly transmissive, or even opaque at visible wavelengths, traditional interferometric techniques are not well suited to measuring the transmitted wavefront. We present experimental results using phase retrieval at thermal IR wavelengths to characterize the Thermal Infrared Sensor (TIRS), an instrument included in the Landsat Data Continuity Mission (LDCM), and measure wavefront errors caused by mounting stresses on the lenses.
Earth's far-infrared spectrum: a frontier in climate science and measurement technology
Paper 7808-26 of Conference 7808
Date: Monday, 02 August 2010

Author(s): Martin G. Mlynczak, Richard Cageao, M. Nurul Abedin, NASA Langley Research Ctr. (United States); Harri Latvakoski, Space Dynamics Lab. (United States); J. Ashley Alford, NASA Langley Research Ctr. (United States); Stanley Wellard, Space Dynamics Lab. (United States); Henry H. Hogue, DRS Sensors & Targeting Systems, Inc. (United States); Erik Syrstad, Space Dynamics Lab. (United States)

Show Abstract
For the past 40 years spectral measurements of the Earth's infrared emission have been confined to 4 to 15 micrometers. The far-infrared spectrum, from 15 to 100 micrometers, contains about half of the infrared energy exiting the Earth system and is modulated by water vapor, Earth's primary greenhouse gas, and cirrus clouds. For the past decade a concerted effort has been made to develop the technology to measure routinely the far-IR from space. These efforts have paid off in a number of unique instruments and technologies that are being incorporated in the development of the new NASA CLARREO satellite mission.
Semiconductor plasmonic metamaterials for near-infrared and telecommunication wavelength
Paper 7754-20 of Conference 7754
Date: Monday, 02 August 2010

Author(s): Gururaj Naik, Vladimir M. Shalaev, Purdue Univ. (United States); Alexandra Boltasseva, Purdue Univ. (United States) and Denmark Technical University (Denmark)

Show Abstract
Metamaterials have conventionally used gold and silver as their plasmonic components. However, the losses in these metallic components, especially in near-IR (NIR) and visible spectra have severely limited their performances. Also, the magnitude of real permittivity of these metals is too large in NIR for many transformation-optics devices. In this paper we show that zinc oxide, a wide band-gap semiconductor, when heavily doped can be a low loss plasmonic material in NIR with a small magnitude of real permittivity. Upon optimizing the processing conditions, losses in heavily doped ZnO can be four times smaller than that of silver in NIR.
Nonlinear switching of near infrared light in liquid crystal on silicon channel waveguides
Paper 7775-35 of Conference 7775
Date: Monday, 02 August 2010

Author(s): Antonio d'Alessandro, Rita Asquini, Marco Trotta, Univ. degli Studi di Roma La Sapienza (Italy); Romeo Beccherelli, Istituto per la Microelettronica e Microsistemi (Italy)

Show Abstract
Nonlinear optical properties of nematic LC (NLC) E7 channel waveguides in micromachined SiO2/Si V-grooves operating in the C-band (1530 - 1565 nm) will be presented. Molecular reorientation of the NLC, induced either by an applied low frequency electric field or by the electric field of the light itself, changes the LC refractive index distribution then allowing the control of guided light. Experiments showed that light at 1550 nm could be optically modulated by a 25 mW optical beam, fiber-coupled to the LC waveguide. Modeling of NLC optically induced reorientation to explain experimental results will be also presented.
Development and verification of high durability infrared transparent coating for airborne usage

Germanium optics

Model	Product Name+	Buy Now
CPPE-Ge-38.1-4	Germanium circular plane parallel etalon, ø 38.1 mm x 4 mm
E-Ge-12.7-25.4	Germanium etalon, ø 12.7 mm x 25.4 mm (ø 0.5" x 1")
RAP-Ge-1	Germanium right angle prism, 25.4x25.4x25.4 mm
W-Ge-114.3-5-AR	Germanium window, ø 114.3 mm x 5.0 mm, AR coated 8-12 micron
W-Ge-125-6	Germanium window, ø 125 mm x 6 mm
W-Ge-25.4-3	Germanium window, ø 25.4 mm x 3 mm
W-Ge-38.1-4	Germanium window, ø 38.1 mm x 4 mm
W-Ge-38.1-4	Germanium window, ø 38.1 mm x 4 mm, coated
W-Ge-50.8-3	Germanium window, ø 50.8 mm x 3 mm
W-Ge-50.8-3	Germanium window, ø 50.8 mm x 3 mm
W-Ge-50.8-5	Germanium window, ø 50.8 mm x 5 mm
W-Ge-60-3-CTS	Germanium window, ø 60 mm x 3 mm

Paper 7786-21 of Conference 7786
Date: Monday, 02 August 2010

Author(s): Ahmet L. Avsar, Hüseyin A. Salman, Alp Eren S. Özhan, Ali M. Çolakoglu, ASELSAN Inc. (Turkey)

Show Abstract
The development of hard carbon coating, whose substrate material is germanium, will be discussed. Finite element analysis of substrate material will be compared with rain erosion test data. Test results for developed coating will also be presented to show the improvement on durability performance.
The measurement of low-level infrared spectral directional-hemispherical reflectance
Paper 7792-14 of Conference 7792
Date: Monday, 02 August 2010

Author(s): Leonard M. Hanssen, Boris Wilthan, National Institute of Standards and Technology (United States)

Show Abstract
At NIST, the Absolute Near-normal Infrared Reflectometer Instrument (ANIRI) is used for the measurement of absolute infrared spectral directional-hemispherical reflectance (DHR). The ANIRI employs a custom integrating sphere as well as a custom absolute method for the characterization of near-normal DHR. The complete measurement system includes an FTIR spectrometer source, an interface optics unit, and the ANIRI. This system incorporates several features that make it especially suitable for the measurement of very black materials. The measurement system, as well as key elements of the measurement methodology will be reviewed. Example results of several low reflectance samples will be shown.
Optical design of a coded aperture infrared imaging system with resolution below the pixel limit
Paper 7818A-15 of Conference 7818A
Date: Monday, 02 August 2010

Author(s): Charlotte R. Bennett, Kevin Ridley, Geoff D. De Villiers, Philip Watson, Christopher W. Slinger, QinetiQ Ltd. (United Kingdom); Philip J. Rogers, VNF Ltd. (United Kingdom)

Show Abstract
Adaptive coded aperture imaging systems can resolve objects that are smaller than the pixel-limited resolution of the focal plane array. In the mid-wave infrared the required signal to noise necessitates some form of light concentration. Optical design software has been used to model candidate optical systems with the aim of achieving up to four times resolution enhancement along each linear dimension. Novel metrics have been derived and used to inform the optical design. The modeling and design tradeoffs and resulting performance are discussed.
Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer solid hydrogen cryogenic support system: lessons learned
Paper 7796-11 of Conference 7796
Date: Monday, 02 August 2010

Author(s): Brett Lloyd, Brian Thompson, Space Dynamics Lab. (United States); Scott H. Schick, Practical Technology Solutions, Inc. (United States)

Show Abstract
The Wide-Field Infrared Survey Explorer (WISE) is a JPL managed MIDEX mission to perform an infrared all-sky survey. The WISE instrument, developed by the Space Dynamics Laboratory (SDL), is a 40-cm cryogenically-cooled telescope which includes a cryogenic scan mirror and four infrared focal planes (2-HgCdTe, 2-SiAs). Cooling of the instrument to the desired temperatures is accomplished by a two-stage, solid hydrogen cryostat, provided by Lockheed Martin Advanced Technology Center (LMATC). Required temperatures for the instrument optics and SiAs focal planes are <13 K and < 7.6 K respectively. To extend the cryogen lifetime, the vacuum shell is isolated from the spacecraft via composite struts and radiatively cooled to <200 K. The telescope aperture is protected from on-orbit environmental loads via a two-stage radiatively cooled aperture shade. WISE was successfully launched into a 530 km, polar orbit on Dec 14, 2009, beginning a 10-month mission to survey the entire sky in the infrared. This paper discusses various lessons that were learned during the design, development, fabrication, integration, and testing of the WISE cryogenic support system.
Extended Blocked Impurity Band detectors for far-infrared detection
Paper 7808-30 of Conference 7808
Date: Monday, 02 August 2010

Author(s): Henry H. Hogue, DRS Sensors & Targeting Systems, Inc. (United States); Martin G. Mlynczak, M. Nurul Abedin, NASA Langley Research Ctr. (United States); Stacy Masterjohn, Mark Muzilla, DRS Sensors & Targeting Systems, Inc. (United States)

Show Abstract
We report further development of a direct detector for far-IR (>40 µm) photons descended from Si:As BIB mid-IR (5 to 40 µm) detectors with extensive space heritage. Wavelength is extended through the increase of dopant concentration. A prototype detector was demonstrated in 2008 with wavelength extension to 50 µm and projection operation to 16 K for atmospheric monitoring from space. Further development of this device is in progress, targeting a detector with wavelength range from 2 to 100 µm. New detector material has been prepared and is being processed into into detectors for evaluation relative CLARREO far-IR interferometer requirements.
Barium fluoride and glass combinations for short-wave infrared designs
Paper 7786-45 of Conference 7786
Date: Monday, 02 August 2010

Author(s): David W. Warren, The Aerospace Corp. (United States)

Show Abstract
Achromatic doublet theory is recast for the 1-2.5um short-wavelength infrared band, suggesting the desirability of combining Barium Fluoride with specific high index optical glasses having large differences in primary SWIR dispersion and small differences in partial SWIR dispersion. Candidate combinations of materials are screened empirically using the performance of optimized f/3 airspaced achromatic doublets employing Barium Fluoride as the positive element. Polychromatic RMS geometric image spot sizes appear to increase quadratically with difference in partial SWIR dispersion between Barium Fluoride and the complementary glasses. Examples of complex (fast, wide field) systems demonstrate the utility of the most promising pairings.
Image splitter for mid-infrared bi-spectral analysis of flames
Paper 7808-52 of Conference 7808
Date: Monday, 02 August 2010

Author(s): Antonio Ortega, Gonzalo Paez, Marija Strojnik, CIO (Mexico)

Show Abstract
In this work we propose and evaluate an optical "image splitter" by which we can capture two simultaneous infrared images of a single object, using a single detector. By using this device, we can perform experiments in which we are interested in observing transitory phenomena in two different spectral bands, such as in mid-infrared flame analysis.
Subradiant plasmon modes in high sensitivity LSPR sensing experiments in the near-infrared
Paper 7757-79 of Conference 7757
Date: Monday, 02 August 2010

Author(s): Niels Verellen, Katholieke Univ. Leuven (Belgium) and IMEC (Belgium); Chengjun Huang, Kristof Lodewijks, IMEC (Belgium); Guy A. E. Vandenbosch, Katholieke Univ. Leuven (Belgium); Liesbet Lagae, Pol Van Dorpe, IMEC (Belgium); Victor V. Moshchalkov, Katholieke Univ. Leuven (Belgium)

Show Abstract
Coherent coupling of individual plasmonic nanocavity modes presents an effective tool for controlling localized surface plasmon resonance (LSPR) linewidths. Fano resonances, plasmonic electromagnetic induced transparency and subradiance have been proposed as promising candidates for LSPR refractive index sensing because of their enhanced quality factors (and small effective mode volumes). We experimentally demonstrate that subradiance could be one of the key ingredients for high sensitivity LSPR nanosensors based on planar Au nano-crosses. By immersion in different glycerol solutions, refractive index sensitivities over 1000nm /RIU are observed with Figure of Merit (FOM) numbers exceeding 5 in the near-infrared.
Synthetic images for radiometric and spectral validation of an infrared sensor model
Paper 7798-86 of Conference 7798
Date: Monday, 02 August 2010

Author(s): Francisco Cortes, Fernando Lopez, Juan Melendez, Jose Manuel Aranda, Antonio J. de Castro, Univ. Carlos III de Madrid (Spain)

Show Abstract
This paper describes the radiometric validation procedure of an IR sensor model including its entire components, from optics to ADC output. The complete model includes the properly combination of the different sub-models of an imaging system: optics, spectral selectors, detector and electronic output. For validation purposes different IR cameras and blackbodies available in our lab has been used. The input magnitude is a simulated blackbody. The model generates a synthetic digital image to be compared with the camera one. Special care is devoted to spectral validation of the sensor, including not only cameras but spectroradiometers and spectral imagers.
Ordered/disordered broadband antireflective structures for near-infrared detector applications
Paper 7808-54 of Conference 7808
Date: Tuesday, 03 August 2010

Author(s): Young Min Song, Eun Sil Choi, Gyeong Cheol Park, Sung Jun Jang, Gwangju Institute of Science and Technology (Korea, Republic of); Jae Su Yu, Kyung Hee Univ. (Korea, Republic of); Yong Tak Lee, Gwangju Institute of Science and Technology (Korea, Republic of)

Show Abstract
We report broadband antireflective subwavelength structures (SWS) for enhancing the responsivity of InGaAs-based near-infrared photodetectors, which is demanding in various applications such as spectral imaging, remote sensing, and gas detection. Two simple fabrication methods, i.e., lenslike shape transfer of grating patterns and dry etch of Ag nanoparticles, were proposed to form SWS on semiconductor substrate. The fabricated SWS showed extremely lower reflectance spectra compared to that of flat surface in the near-IR range, indicating good agreement with the simulation results. By optimizing the size, shape, and array geometry of SWS, the absorption efficiency of InGaAs-based near-IR photodetector is improved.
Measurement of trace gases in East Asia with satellite infrared radiometer
Paper 7808-32 of Conference 7808
Date: Tuesday, 03 August 2010

Author(s): Fumie Kataoka, Yasushi Mitomi, Remote Sensing Technology Ctr. of Japan (Japan)

No abstract available
Infrared and optical metamaterial perfect absorbers
Paper 7756-11 of Conference 7756
Date: Tuesday, 03 August 2010

Author(s): Willie J. Padilla, Boston College (United States)

Show Abstract
Since the first experimental demonstration of negative refractive index, research into metamaterials has grown enormously. The ability of metamaterial to achieve nearly any electromagnetic response in nearly any frequency band suggests many exotic applications including invisibility cloaks and perfect lenses. One current expanding field of research is that of metamaterial perfect absorbers (MPAs) due to their unique ability to achieve unity absorption with high efficiency. Here we present a computational and experimental study of an infrared metamaterials absorber which realizes 97% absorption at 6.0 micron wavelength. By using two different metamaterial sub-lattices consisting of a MPA and a near zero absorber, we experimentally demonstrate a spatial and frequency varying absorption which may have many relevant applications including hyperspectral sub-sampling imaging.
A highly integrated micropayload for broadband infrared spectrometry (HIBRIS)
Paper 7808-40 of Conference 7808
Date: Tuesday, 03 August 2010

Author(s): M. Esposito, S. Hannemann, S. Moon, D. Lampridis, M. Collon, M. Beijersbergen, cosine Research B.V. (Netherlands)

Show Abstract
HIBRIS is a combination of a spectrometer covering the wavelength range from 0.7 μm up to 5 μm, considered as generic instrument being part of many missions, and the radiometric micro-bolometer in the thermal infrared spectral range. A linear variable filter (LVF) concept is implemented avoiding the use of gratings which are usually limited to one decade of spectral range or less. The thereby rather compact design does allow the integration of multiple instruments within a rather limited volume envelope. The suite also makes use of a microcooler and the most advanced MCT detector technologies.
Next generation infrared sensor instrumentation: remote sensing and sensor networks using the openPHOTONS repository
Paper 7808-42 of Conference 7808
Date: Tuesday, 03 August 2010

Author(s): Stephen G. So, Evan Jeng, Clinton Smith, David Krueger, Gerard Wysocki, Princeton Univ. (United States)

Show Abstract
We describe our novel instrumentation architectures for infrared laser spectrometers. Compact, power efficient, low noise modules allow for optimized implementation of cell phone sized sensors using VCSELs, diode, and quantum cascade laser sources. We have implemented sensors based on laser absorption spectroscopy, photoacoustic spectroscopy, and Faraday rotation spectroscopy using the openPHOTONS systems, with performance rivaling standalone laboratory measurement instrumentation. Such system modules allow the development of extremely flexible sensors, whether implementing closed path spectrometers, open path perimeter monitoring, or remote backscatter based sensors. This work is also the enabling technology for atmospheric wireless sensor networks of precision sensors, which can complement remote sensing technologies.
Multi-layer far-infrared component technology
Paper 7817-12 of Conference 7817
Date: Tuesday, 03 August 2010

Author(s): Robert E. Peale, Justin W. Cleary, Univ. of Central Florida (United States); Walter R. Buchwald, Andrew Davis, Sandy Wentzel, Bill Stacy, Air Force Research Lab. (United States); Oliver J. Edwards, Zyberwear, Inc. (United States)

Show Abstract
Airborne, satellite and man-portable sensing instrumentation at THz wavelengths can benefit from multi-layer thin-film optics. Applications include ultra-high reflectivity mirrors, band-pass and band-blocking filters, anti-reflection coatings, and compact high-resolution Fabry-Perot spectrometers with broad free-spectral-range. We propose terahertz thin-film optics based on silicon. Alternating sub-wavelength layers of silicon and air provide high index contrast to create improved components with just a few layers. We report a process to produce ultrathin silicon optical elements that may be bonded into monolithic Bragg stacks. Laboratory characterization confirms theoretical design specifications.
High aspect ratio nanoscale metallic structures as transparent electrodes and infrared heat filters
Paper 7756-21 of Conference 7756
Date: Tuesday, 03 August 2010

Author(s): Kai Ming Ho, Iowa State Univ. (United States)

Show Abstract
We report a novel fabrication technique for making high aspect ratio nanoscale metallic patterned structures. These structures can be used as transparent electrodes for optical devices such as light-emitting diodes or solar cells. They have high visible light transmission comparable to indium-tin-oxide electrodes and superior electrical conductivities. They also can be used as infrared heat control filters due to their high reflection of infrared radiation.
Validation of the infrared spectral radiance scales realized at NIST spectral emittance and infrared radiometry facilities
Paper 7808-47 of Conference 7808
Date: Tuesday, 03 August 2010

Author(s): Boris Wilthan, Sergey N. Mekhontsev, Vladimir Khromchenko, Leonard M. Hanssen, National Institute of Standards and Technology (United States)

Show Abstract
We have performed a intercomparison of the Fourier Transform Infrared Spectrophotometry (FTIS) and the Advanced Infrared Radiometry and Imaging (AIRI) facilities at NIST. The FTIS facility is used to measure material infrared optical properties including emittance (emissivity). The AIRI facility serves as a national primary standard of radiance temperature and spectral radiance in the IR, and is used to characterize the optical radiation properties of blackbody sources. Results of a validation comparison of spectral radiance measurements, at both facilities, of an IR calibrator at 250 and 500°C, and a SiC sample at temperatures up to 900°C will be presented (2.5 to 13.5 µm).
NPP Visible/Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite (VIIRS) radiometric calibration, emissive bands: tested performance
Paper 7808-49 of Conference 7808
Date: Tuesday, 03 August 2010

Author(s): Eric H. Johnson, Raytheon Co. (United States); Karen Galang, Courtney Ranshaw, Brendan Robinson, Raytheon Space & Airborne Systems (United States)

Show Abstract
The Visible/Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite (VIIRS) collects radiometric and imagery data in 22 spectral bands within the visible and infrared spectrum ranging from 0.4 to 12.5 um. This paper describes the radiometric uncertainty requirements for the 7 VIIRS thermal emissive bands and the calibration methodology employed to meet these requirements, including the on-board calibration subsystems and the retrieval algorithm for generating calibrated radiance from instrument data. The instrument characteristics contributing to uncertainties in retrieved radiance are presented based on results from the recently completed pre-launch test program. The final roll-up of these uncertainties relative to the absolute radiometric requirements are shown, and compared against the results obtained from the radiance retrieval algorithm exercised during thermal-vacuum testing for a NIST traceable Blackbody Calibration Source.
Infrared two-color ghost imaging using entangled beams
Paper 7815-2 of Conference 7815
Date: Wednesday, 04 August 2010

Author(s): Charles C. Kim, Gary Kanner, Northrop Grumman Electronic Systems (United States)

Show Abstract
We carried out ghost imaging experiments using nondegenerate entangled beams with the central wavelengths at 810 nm and 1550 nm. The pulsed pump at 532 nm had the high efficiency of parametric down conversion and enabled ghost imaging although its average pump power was 10 mW. For the first time, we demonstrated ghost imaging with two disparate detectors: Si avalanche photodiode on one arm and InGaAs avalanche photodiode on the other. Objects were placed in the arm of the 1550 nm beam, whereas the imaging lens was placed in the arm of the 810 nm beam. Ghost imaging was constructed by using the quantum correlated portion of the data due to the nature of the entangled beams. Current theory for this configuration predicted that the image magnification by a degenerate source should be one and half times larger than that of this nondegenerate source; the observed magnification followed closely the value predicted by the theory.


High-resolution infrared imaging
Paper 7782-6 of Conference 7782
Date: Monday, 02 August 2010

Author(s): Charles M. Falco, The Univ. of Arizona (United States)


The hands and mind of an artist are intimately involved in the creative process of image formation, intrinsically making paintings complex to analyze. In spite of this difficulty, several years ago the painter David Hockney and I identified optical evidence within a number of paintings that demonstrated artists began using optical projections as early as c1425 -- nearly 175 years before Galileo -- as aids for producing portions of their images. In the course of our work, Hockney and I developed insights that I have been applying to a new approach to computerized image analysis. A direct result of this approach has been to identify from Impressionist paintings by Monet, Pissarro, Renoir and others the precise locations the artists stood when making a number of their paintings. An indirect result, that much of this lecture will be devoted to, has been the development of a high resolution infrared camera. As I will discuss, this camera has enabled me to capture IR reflectograms of hundreds of paintings in over a dozen museums on three continents so far, in a number of cases revealing marks made by the artists that have been hidden by paint ever since they were made. In some cases these marks provide key insights into decisions the artists made in creating the final images that we see in the visible. Acknowledgments: I am grateful to David Hockney for the many invaluable insights into imaging gained from him in our collaboration, and to the support of ARO and DARPA.
Quantitative analysis error source estimates for passive stand-off infrared chemical signatures using a high-throughput Fourier transform infrared spectrometer
Paper 7812-11 of Conference 7812
Date: Monday, 02 August 2010

Author(s): Robert T. Kroutil, Dynamac Corp. (United States); Paul E. Lewis, U.S. Government (United States); Sylvia S. Shen, The Aerospace Corp. (United States); David P. Miller, Northrop Grumman Information Technology (United States); Alan Cummings, Tetra Tech EM, Inc. (United States); Mark Thomas, Timothy Curry, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (United States)


Quantitative analysis of passive infrared spectral signatures has been recently documented in a few open literature publications. During emergency response operations, it is useful to characterize the general level of concentration of a particular chemical vapor in order to quickly estimate a hazardous condition for first responders and the public. Error sources in the quantitative measurement of a gaseous species include a lack of understanding of the ground temperature, an unknown estimate of the emissivity of the surface, a lack of knowledge of the temperature of the gaseous plume, and a poor understanding of what the contribution of the intervening atmosphere has on the infrared signal. This paper addresses error estimation from these sources in order to provide a practical estimation of the accuracy associated with making a quantitative measurement of a chemical plume concentration.
Phase retrieval for thermal infrared systems
Paper 7800-12 of Conference 7800
Date: Monday, 02 August 2010

Author(s): Matthew R. Bolcar, Scott Rohrbach, John E. Mentzell, Michael J. Hersh, Adam J. Matuszeski, NASA Goddard Space Flight Ctr. (United States)


Optical materials used for transmissive systems operating in the thermal infrared band (8-12 μm) tend to be soft, and easily deformed under mounting stress. Since these materials also tend to be poorly transmissive, or even opaque at visible wavelengths, traditional interferometric techniques are not well suited to measuring the transmitted wavefront. We present experimental results using phase retrieval at thermal IR wavelengths to characterize the Thermal Infrared Sensor (TIRS), an instrument included in the Landsat Data Continuity Mission (LDCM), and measure wavefront errors caused by mounting stresses on the lenses.
Earth's far-infrared spectrum: a frontier in climate science and measurement technology
Paper 7808-26 of Conference 7808
Date: Monday, 02 August 2010

Author(s): Martin G. Mlynczak, Richard Cageao, M. Nurul Abedin, NASA Langley Research Ctr. (United States); Harri Latvakoski, Space Dynamics Lab. (United States); J. Ashley Alford, NASA Langley Research Ctr. (United States); Stanley Wellard, Space Dynamics Lab. (United States); Henry H. Hogue, DRS Sensors & Targeting Systems, Inc. (United States); Erik Syrstad, Space Dynamics Lab. (United States)


For the past 40 years spectral measurements of the Earth's infrared emission have been confined to 4 to 15 micrometers. The far-infrared spectrum, from 15 to 100 micrometers, contains about half of the infrared energy exiting the Earth system and is modulated by water vapor, Earth's primary greenhouse gas, and cirrus clouds. For the past decade a concerted effort has been made to develop the technology to measure routinely the far-IR from space. These efforts have paid off in a number of unique instruments and technologies that are being incorporated in the development of the new NASA CLARREO satellite mission.
Semiconductor plasmonic metamaterials for near-infrared and telecommunication wavelength
Paper 7754-20 of Conference 7754
Date: Monday, 02 August 2010

Author(s): Gururaj Naik, Vladimir M. Shalaev, Purdue Univ. (United States); Alexandra Boltasseva, Purdue Univ. (United States) and Denmark Technical University (Denmark)


Metamaterials have conventionally used gold and silver as their plasmonic components. However, the losses in these metallic components, especially in near-IR (NIR) and visible spectra have severely limited their performances. Also, the magnitude of real permittivity of these metals is too large in NIR for many transformation-optics devices. In this paper we show that zinc oxide, a wide band-gap semiconductor, when heavily doped can be a low loss plasmonic material in NIR with a small magnitude of real permittivity. Upon optimizing the processing conditions, losses in heavily doped ZnO can be four times smaller than that of silver in NIR.
Nonlinear switching of near infrared light in liquid crystal on silicon channel waveguides
Paper 7775-35 of Conference 7775
Date: Monday, 02 August 2010

Author(s): Antonio d'Alessandro, Rita Asquini, Marco Trotta, Univ. degli Studi di Roma La Sapienza (Italy); Romeo Beccherelli, Istituto per la Microelettronica e Microsistemi (Italy)


Nonlinear optical properties of nematic LC (NLC) E7 channel waveguides in micromachined SiO2/Si V-grooves operating in the C-band (1530 - 1565 nm) will be presented. Molecular reorientation of the NLC, induced either by an applied low frequency electric field or by the electric field of the light itself, changes the LC refractive index distribution then allowing the control of guided light. Experiments showed that light at 1550 nm could be optically modulated by a 25 mW optical beam, fiber-coupled to the LC waveguide. Modeling of NLC optically induced reorientation to explain experimental results will be also presented.
Development and verification of high durability infrared transparent coating for airborne usage
Paper 7786-21 of Conference 7786
Date: Monday, 02 August 2010

Author(s): Ahmet L. Avsar, Hüseyin A. Salman, Alp Eren S. Özhan, Ali M. Çolakoglu, ASELSAN Inc. (Turkey)


The development of hard carbon coating, whose substrate material is germanium, will be discussed. Finite element analysis of substrate material will be compared with rain erosion test data. Test results for developed coating will also be presented to show the improvement on durability performance.
The measurement of low-level infrared spectral directional-hemispherical reflectance
Paper 7792-14 of Conference 7792
Date: Monday, 02 August 2010

Author(s): Leonard M. Hanssen, Boris Wilthan, National Institute of Standards and Technology (United States)


At NIST, the Absolute Near-normal Infrared Reflectometer Instrument (ANIRI) is used for the measurement of absolute infrared spectral directional-hemispherical reflectance (DHR). The ANIRI employs a custom integrating sphere as well as a custom absolute method for the characterization of near-normal DHR. The complete measurement system includes an FTIR spectrometer source, an interface optics unit, and the ANIRI. This system incorporates several features that make it especially suitable for the measurement of very black materials. The measurement system, as well as key elements of the measurement methodology will be reviewed. Example results of several low reflectance samples will be shown.
Optical design of a coded aperture infrared imaging system with resolution below the pixel limit
Paper 7818A-15 of Conference 7818A
Date: Monday, 02 August 2010

Author(s): Charlotte R. Bennett, Kevin Ridley, Geoff D. De Villiers, Philip Watson, Christopher W. Slinger, QinetiQ Ltd. (United Kingdom); Philip J. Rogers, VNF Ltd. (United Kingdom)


Adaptive coded aperture imaging systems can resolve objects that are smaller than the pixel-limited resolution of the focal plane array. In the mid-wave infrared the required signal to noise necessitates some form of light concentration. Optical design software has been used to model candidate optical systems with the aim of achieving up to four times resolution enhancement along each linear dimension. Novel metrics have been derived and used to inform the optical design. The modeling and design tradeoffs and resulting performance are discussed.
Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer solid hydrogen cryogenic support system: lessons learned
Paper 7796-11 of Conference 7796
Date: Monday, 02 August 2010

Author(s): Brett Lloyd, Brian Thompson, Space Dynamics Lab. (United States); Scott H. Schick, Practical Technology Solutions, Inc. (United States)


The Wide-Field Infrared Survey Explorer (WISE) is a JPL managed MIDEX mission to perform an infrared all-sky survey. The WISE instrument, developed by the Space Dynamics Laboratory (SDL), is a 40-cm cryogenically-cooled telescope which includes a cryogenic scan mirror and four infrared focal planes (2-HgCdTe, 2-SiAs). Cooling of the instrument to the desired temperatures is accomplished by a two-stage, solid hydrogen cryostat, provided by Lockheed Martin Advanced Technology Center (LMATC). Required temperatures for the instrument optics and SiAs focal planes are <13 K and < 7.6 K respectively. To extend the cryogen lifetime, the vacuum shell is isolated from the spacecraft via composite struts and radiatively cooled to <200 K. The telescope aperture is protected from on-orbit environmental loads via a two-stage radiatively cooled aperture shade. WISE was successfully launched into a 530 km, polar orbit on Dec 14, 2009, beginning a 10-month mission to survey the entire sky in the infrared. This paper discusses various lessons that were learned during the design, development, fabrication, integration, and testing of the WISE cryogenic support system.
Extended Blocked Impurity Band detectors for far-infrared detection
Paper 7808-30 of Conference 7808
Date: Monday, 02 August 2010

Author(s): Henry H. Hogue, DRS Sensors & Targeting Systems, Inc. (United States); Martin G. Mlynczak, M. Nurul Abedin, NASA Langley Research Ctr. (United States); Stacy Masterjohn, Mark Muzilla, DRS Sensors & Targeting Systems, Inc. (United States)


We report further development of a direct detector for far-IR (>40 µm) photons descended from Si:As BIB mid-IR (5 to 40 µm) detectors with extensive space heritage. Wavelength is extended through the increase of dopant concentration. A prototype detector was demonstrated in 2008 with wavelength extension to 50 µm and projection operation to 16 K for atmospheric monitoring from space. Further development of this device is in progress, targeting a detector with wavelength range from 2 to 100 µm. New detector material has been prepared and is being processed into into detectors for evaluation relative CLARREO far-IR interferometer requirements.
Barium fluoride and glass combinations for short-wave infrared designs

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Paper 7786-45 of Conference 7786
Date: Monday, 02 August 2010

Author(s): David W. Warren, The Aerospace Corp. (United States)


Achromatic doublet theory is recast for the 1-2.5um short-wavelength infrared band, suggesting the desirability of combining Barium Fluoride with specific high index optical glasses having large differences in primary SWIR dispersion and small differences in partial SWIR dispersion. Candidate combinations of materials are screened empirically using the performance of optimized f/3 airspaced achromatic doublets employing Barium Fluoride as the positive element. Polychromatic RMS geometric image spot sizes appear to increase quadratically with difference in partial SWIR dispersion between Barium Fluoride and the complementary glasses. Examples of complex (fast, wide field) systems demonstrate the utility of the most promising pairings.
Image splitter for mid-infrared bi-spectral analysis of flames
Paper 7808-52 of Conference 7808
Date: Monday, 02 August 2010

Author(s): Antonio Ortega, Gonzalo Paez, Marija Strojnik, CIO (Mexico)


In this work we propose and evaluate an optical "image splitter" by which we can capture two simultaneous infrared images of a single object, using a single detector. By using this device, we can perform experiments in which we are interested in observing transitory phenomena in two different spectral bands, such as in mid-infrared flame analysis.
Subradiant plasmon modes in high sensitivity LSPR sensing experiments in the near-infrared
Paper 7757-79 of Conference 7757
Date: Monday, 02 August 2010

Author(s): Niels Verellen, Katholieke Univ. Leuven (Belgium) and IMEC (Belgium); Chengjun Huang, Kristof Lodewijks, IMEC (Belgium); Guy A. E. Vandenbosch, Katholieke Univ. Leuven (Belgium); Liesbet Lagae, Pol Van Dorpe, IMEC (Belgium); Victor V. Moshchalkov, Katholieke Univ. Leuven (Belgium)


Coherent coupling of individual plasmonic nanocavity modes presents an effective tool for controlling localized surface plasmon resonance (LSPR) linewidths. Fano resonances, plasmonic electromagnetic induced transparency and subradiance have been proposed as promising candidates for LSPR refractive index sensing because of their enhanced quality factors (and small effective mode volumes). We experimentally demonstrate that subradiance could be one of the key ingredients for high sensitivity LSPR nanosensors based on planar Au nano-crosses. By immersion in different glycerol solutions, refractive index sensitivities over 1000nm /RIU are observed with Figure of Merit (FOM) numbers exceeding 5 in the near-infrared.
Synthetic images for radiometric and spectral validation of an infrared sensor model
Paper 7798-86 of Conference 7798
Date: Monday, 02 August 2010

Author(s): Francisco Cortes, Fernando Lopez, Juan Melendez, Jose Manuel Aranda, Antonio J. de Castro, Univ. Carlos III de Madrid (Spain)


This paper describes the radiometric validation procedure of an IR sensor model including its entire components, from optics to ADC output. The complete model includes the properly combination of the different sub-models of an imaging system: optics, spectral selectors, detector and electronic output. For validation purposes different IR cameras and blackbodies available in our lab has been used. The input magnitude is a simulated blackbody. The model generates a synthetic digital image to be compared with the camera one. Special care is devoted to spectral validation of the sensor, including not only cameras but spectroradiometers and spectral imagers.
Ordered/disordered broadband antireflective structures for near-infrared detector applications
Paper 7808-54 of Conference 7808
Date: Tuesday, 03 August 2010

Author(s): Young Min Song, Eun Sil Choi, Gyeong Cheol Park, Sung Jun Jang, Gwangju Institute of Science and Technology (Korea, Republic of); Jae Su Yu, Kyung Hee Univ. (Korea, Republic of); Yong Tak Lee, Gwangju Institute of Science and Technology (Korea, Republic of)


We report broadband antireflective subwavelength structures (SWS) for enhancing the responsivity of InGaAs-based near-infrared photodetectors, which is demanding in various applications such as spectral imaging, remote sensing, and gas detection. Two simple fabrication methods, i.e., lenslike shape transfer of grating patterns and dry etch of Ag nanoparticles, were proposed to form SWS on semiconductor substrate. The fabricated SWS showed extremely lower reflectance spectra compared to that of flat surface in the near-IR range, indicating good agreement with the simulation results. By optimizing the size, shape, and array geometry of SWS, the absorption efficiency of InGaAs-based near-IR photodetector is improved.
Measurement of trace gases in East Asia with satellite infrared radiometer
Paper 7808-32 of Conference 7808
Date: Tuesday, 03 August 2010

Author(s): Fumie Kataoka, Yasushi Mitomi, Remote Sensing Technology Ctr. of Japan (Japan)

No abstract available
Infrared and optical metamaterial perfect absorbers
Paper 7756-11 of Conference 7756
Date: Tuesday, 03 August 2010

Author(s): Willie J. Padilla, Boston College (United States)


Since the first experimental demonstration of negative refractive index, research into metamaterials has grown enormously. The ability of metamaterial to achieve nearly any electromagnetic response in nearly any frequency band suggests many exotic applications including invisibility cloaks and perfect lenses. One current expanding field of research is that of metamaterial perfect absorbers (MPAs) due to their unique ability to achieve unity absorption with high efficiency. Here we present a computational and experimental study of an infrared metamaterials absorber which realizes 97% absorption at 6.0 micron wavelength. By using two different metamaterial sub-lattices consisting of a MPA and a near zero absorber, we experimentally demonstrate a spatial and frequency varying absorption which may have many relevant applications including hyperspectral sub-sampling imaging.
A highly integrated micropayload for broadband infrared spectrometry (HIBRIS)
Paper 7808-40 of Conference 7808
Date: Tuesday, 03 August 2010

Author(s): M. Esposito, S. Hannemann, S. Moon, D. Lampridis, M. Collon, M. Beijersbergen, cosine Research B.V. (Netherlands)


HIBRIS is a combination of a spectrometer covering the wavelength range from 0.7 μm up to 5 μm, considered as generic instrument being part of many missions, and the radiometric micro-bolometer in the thermal infrared spectral range. A linear variable filter (LVF) concept is implemented avoiding the use of gratings which are usually limited to one decade of spectral range or less. The thereby rather compact design does allow the integration of multiple instruments within a rather limited volume envelope. The suite also makes use of a microcooler and the most advanced MCT detector technologies.
Next generation infrared sensor instrumentation: remote sensing and sensor networks using the openPHOTONS repository
Paper 7808-42 of Conference 7808
Date: Tuesday, 03 August 2010

Author(s): Stephen G. So, Evan Jeng, Clinton Smith, David Krueger, Gerard Wysocki, Princeton Univ. (United States)


We describe our novel instrumentation architectures for infrared laser spectrometers. Compact, power efficient, low noise modules allow for optimized implementation of cell phone sized sensors using VCSELs, diode, and quantum cascade laser sources. We have implemented sensors based on laser absorption spectroscopy, photoacoustic spectroscopy, and Faraday rotation spectroscopy using the openPHOTONS systems, with performance rivaling standalone laboratory measurement instrumentation. Such system modules allow the development of extremely flexible sensors, whether implementing closed path spectrometers, open path perimeter monitoring, or remote backscatter based sensors. This work is also the enabling technology for atmospheric wireless sensor networks of precision sensors, which can complement remote sensing technologies.
Multi-layer far-infrared component technology
Paper 7817-12 of Conference 7817
Date: Tuesday, 03 August 2010

Author(s): Robert E. Peale, Justin W. Cleary, Univ. of Central Florida (United States); Walter R. Buchwald, Andrew Davis, Sandy Wentzel, Bill Stacy, Air Force Research Lab. (United States); Oliver J. Edwards, Zyberwear, Inc. (United States)


Airborne, satellite and man-portable sensing instrumentation at THz wavelengths can benefit from multi-layer thin-film optics. Applications include ultra-high reflectivity mirrors, band-pass and band-blocking filters, anti-reflection coatings, and compact high-resolution Fabry-Perot spectrometers with broad free-spectral-range. We propose terahertz thin-film optics based on silicon. Alternating sub-wavelength layers of silicon and air provide high index contrast to create improved components with just a few layers. We report a process to produce ultrathin silicon optical elements that may be bonded into monolithic Bragg stacks. Laboratory characterization confirms theoretical design specifications.
High aspect ratio nanoscale metallic structures as transparent electrodes and infrared heat filters
Paper 7756-21 of Conference 7756
Date: Tuesday, 03 August 2010

Author(s): Kai Ming Ho, Iowa State Univ. (United States)


We report a novel fabrication technique for making high aspect ratio nanoscale metallic patterned structures. These structures can be used as transparent electrodes for optical devices such as light-emitting diodes or solar cells. They have high visible light transmission comparable to indium-tin-oxide electrodes and superior electrical conductivities. They also can be used as infrared heat control filters due to their high reflection of infrared radiation.
Validation of the infrared spectral radiance scales realized at NIST spectral emittance and infrared radiometry facilities
Paper 7808-47 of Conference 7808
Date: Tuesday, 03 August 2010

Author(s): Boris Wilthan, Sergey N. Mekhontsev, Vladimir Khromchenko, Leonard M. Hanssen, National Institute of Standards and Technology (United States)


We have performed a intercomparison of the Fourier Transform Infrared Spectrophotometry (FTIS) and the Advanced Infrared Radiometry and Imaging (AIRI) facilities at NIST. The FTIS facility is used to measure material infrared optical properties including emittance (emissivity). The AIRI facility serves as a national primary standard of radiance temperature and spectral radiance in the IR, and is used to characterize the optical radiation properties of blackbody sources. Results of a validation comparison of spectral radiance measurements, at both facilities, of an IR calibrator at 250 and 500°C, and a SiC sample at temperatures up to 900°C will be presented (2.5 to 13.5 µm).
NPP Visible/Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite (VIIRS) radiometric calibration, emissive bands: tested performance
Paper 7808-49 of Conference 7808
Date: Tuesday, 03 August 2010

Author(s): Eric H. Johnson, Raytheon Co. (United States); Karen Galang, Courtney Ranshaw, Brendan Robinson, Raytheon Space & Airborne Systems (United States)


The Visible/Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite (VIIRS) collects radiometric and imagery data in 22 spectral bands within the visible and infrared spectrum ranging from 0.4 to 12.5 um. This paper describes the radiometric uncertainty requirements for the 7 VIIRS thermal emissive bands and the calibration methodology employed to meet these requirements, including the on-board calibration subsystems and the retrieval algorithm for generating calibrated radiance from instrument data. The instrument characteristics contributing to uncertainties in retrieved radiance are presented based on results from the recently completed pre-launch test program. The final roll-up of these uncertainties relative to the absolute radiometric requirements are shown, and compared against the results obtained from the radiance retrieval algorithm exercised during thermal-vacuum testing for a NIST traceable Blackbody Calibration Source.
Infrared two-color ghost imaging using entangled beams
Paper 7815-2 of Conference 7815
Date: Wednesday, 04 August 2010

Author(s): Charles C. Kim, Gary Kanner, Northrop Grumman Electronic Systems (United States)


We carried out ghost imaging experiments using nondegenerate entangled beams with the central wavelengths at 810 nm and 1550 nm. The pulsed pump at 532 nm had the high efficiency of parametric down conversion and enabled ghost imaging although its average pump power was 10 mW. For the first time, we demonstrated ghost imaging with two disparate detectors: Si avalanche photodiode on one arm and InGaAs avalanche photodiode on the other. Objects were placed in the arm of the 1550 nm beam, whereas the imaging lens was placed in the arm of the 810 nm beam. Ghost imaging was constructed by using the quantum correlated portion of the data due to the nature of the entangled beams. Current theory for this configuration predicted that the image magnification by a degenerate source should be one and half times larger than that of this nondegenerate source; the observed magnification followed closely the value predicted by the theory.


Mid-infrared surface plasmon coupled emitters utilizing intersublevel transitions in InAs quantum dots
Paper 7756-25 of Conference 7756
Date: Wednesday, 04 August 2010

Author(s): Eric A. Shaner, Brandon S. Passmore, Sandia National Labs. (United States); Troy Ribaudo, Univ. of Massachusetts Lowell (United States); Stephen A. Lyon, Princeton Univ. (United States); Daniel M. Wasserman, Univ. of Massachusetts Lowell (United States)


We demonstrate mid-infrared electroluminescence from intersublevel transitions in self-assembled InAs quantum dots coupled to surface plasmon modes. Subwavelength metal hole arrays with different periodicity are patterned on the broadband (9 - 15 micron) quantum dot material and the measured electroluminescence is compared to devices without a metal hole array. The resulting normally directed emission is narrowed and a splitting in the spectral structure is observed. This splitting is modeled using a coupled oscillator formalism. Sandia is a multiprogram laboratory operated by Sandia Corporation, a Lockheed Martin Company, for the United States Department of Energy's National Nuclear Security Administration under contract DE-AC04-94AL85000.
Experimental observation of infrared spoof plasmons
Paper 7757-49 of Conference 7757
Date: Wednesday, 04 August 2010

Author(s): Gennady Shvets, Alexander B. Khanikaev, Hossein Mousavi, Dmitriy V. Korobkin, Burton Neuner III, The Univ. of Texas at Austin (United States)


Low-absorbing materials can be made strongly absorbing by utilizing plasmonic metamaterials. We propose and experimentally validate the concept of a plasmonic MetaMirror which improves energy absorption efficiency by an order of magnitude. We demonstrate the excitation of a novel type of a "spoof" plasmon which appears when an ultra-thin high-index layer is adjacent to the perforated metal surface. It is shown that coupling to such spoof plasmons results in the strong enhancement of absorptivity of the thin layer. Applications to photovoltaics and thermophotovoltaics will be discussed.
Correlation between band structure and magneto-transport properties in medium-infrared detector II-VI superlattice
Paper 7780A-5 of Conference 7780A
Date: Wednesday, 04 August 2010

Author(s): Abdelhakim Nafidi, Hassan Chaib, Univ. Ibn Zohr (Morocco); Matteo d'Astuto, Univ. Pierre et Marie Curie (France); Michel E. Enrique Garcia, Univ. Autónoma de Madrid (Spain)


We report here magneto-transport properties and band structure results done in the envelope function formalism for HgTe (d1=5.6 nm) / CdTe (d2 = 3 nm) nanostructure superlattice. The energy E(d2, gama, 4.2 K), shown that the gap Eg decreases to zero at the transition semiconductor to semimetal. At 4.2 K, the p type sample with a Hall mobility of 8200 cm2/Vs allowed us to observe the Shubnikov-de Haas effect with p = 1,80 1012 cm-2. The Fermi energy was EF(2D)=14 meV in agreement with 12 meV of thermoelectric power alpha. In intrinsic regime, alpha prop T-3/2 and RH T3/2 indicates Eg = 190 meV in agreement with calculated Eg(gama, 300 K) =178 meV. The formalism used here predicts that this narrow gap sample is semiconductor, two-dimensional and is a medium-infrared detector.
The properties of ball infrared black: a new cryogenic thermal control coating
Paper 7794-13 of Conference 7794
Date: Wednesday, 04 August 2010

Author(s): Michael Renbarger, Ball Aerospace & Technologies Corp. (United States)


Ball Aerospace and Technologies Corporation (BATC) developed a unique thermal control coating named Ball InfraRed Black (BIRB). The proprietary coating was developed for spacecraft thermal radiators, but also has application to terrestrial cryogenic and vacuum systems. The unique morphology and large effective surface area of BIRB generates superior cryogenic emissivity properties. Independent testing confirms the emissivity at 50K to be 40% greater than typical thermal control coatings. The coating is static-dissipative, durable, and cleanable. The critical material and contamination control properties for BIRB have been measured. The coating is qualified for spaceflight on large cryogenic radiators.
Optical studies on antimonide superlattice infrared detector material
Paper 7780A-40 of Conference 7780A
Date: Wednesday, 04 August 2010

Author(s): Linda Hoglund, Alexander Soibel, Cory J. Hill, David Z. Ting, Jean Nguyen, Sam A. Keo, Jason M. Mumolo, Michael C. Lee, Baohua Yang, Sarath D. Gunapala, Jet Propulsion Lab. (United States)


In this study the material quality and optical properties of type II InAs/GaSb superlattices are investigated using low temperature transmission and photoluminescence (PL) spectroscopy. The influence of the doping level on the intensity of the luminescence and on the transport properties of minority carriers in the material is studied and a good correlation between the photodetector current-voltage (IV) characteristics and the PL intensity is observed. Luminescence studies are also used to reveal defects and traps in the material which could act to increase the dark current in infrared detectors fabricated from this material. These results demonstrate that PL spectroscopy is a valuable tool for optimization of infrared detectors.
3D metamaterials for the thermal infrared
Paper 7754-61 of Conference 7754
Date: Wednesday, 04 August 2010

Author(s): Igal Brener, Sandia National Labs. (United States)


Metamaterials for the thermal infrared (8-12 um) present challenges that are unique to this spectral range. In this talk I will give an overview of our activities related to the fabrication of 3D IR metamaterials. We recently developed a new fabrication technique called Membrane Projection Lithography that enables the fabrication of out-of-plane metamaterial resonators of submicron dimensions. We have used this technique to fabricate metamaterial structures resonant in the infrared, on curved surfaces and on the faces of small cubes. Finally, I will present fabrication of metamaterials using low loss polymers and coupling between phonons and metamaterial resonances.
Metal backed photonic metamaterial absorber incorporated infrared solar cells
Paper 7772-45 of Conference 7772
Date: Wednesday, 04 August 2010

Author(s): Kamil B. Alici, Ekmel Ozbay, Bilkent Univ. (Turkey)


Artificial periodic structures composed of subwavelength unit cells can provide magnetic response at any frequency band of the electromagnetic spectrum up to ultra-violet. We designed a metamaterial absorber incorporated solar cell which was composed of several layers as follows: a sapphire substrate coated the 300 nm Ag layer on which solar cell layers are coated. On the top we place the SRR array. From the simulated scattering parameters we obtained 83.6% absorbance peak at 184.2 THz (1628nm). The SRR array used in this simulation was fabricated via e-beam lithography and tested experimentally by using a homemade optical transmission setup. We saw a reflection dip at around 185 THz with 45.7 THz FWHM bandwidth. This design works for single polarization for a narrow band. We will experimentally confirm the proposed design and describe the methods to make it polarization independent and rather broad band.
Near-infrared surface enhanced Raman spectroscopy on single copper nanowire decorated with gold nanoparticles
Paper 7764-32 of Conference 7764
Date: Wednesday, 04 August 2010

Author(s): Roshan Guttikonda, Lihua Qian, Biswajit Das, Univ. of Nevada, Las Vegas (United States)


Copper nanostructures are promising for the development of near-infrared SERS substrates with the potential for reduced laser-induced degradation of probe molecules. In this work, an individual copper nanowire conjugated with gold nanoparticles shows significant enhancement of Raman signal with a factor of 6x104 times compared to a single copper nanowire. The enhancement primarily results from near field electromagnetic coupling confined within the tiny crevices between nanowire and nanoparticles. The excellent properties of these structures make them promising for the development of low-cost and reliable near-infrared SERS substrates with potential applications in biological sensors and disease diagnosis.
Polarization-dependent extraordinary infrared transmission through periodic bowtie aperture array
Paper 7780A-11 of Conference 7780A
Date: Thursday, 05 August 2010

Author(s): Edward C. Kinzel, Xianfan Xu, Purdue Univ. (United States)


This work studies a periodic array of bowtie apertures. It can be designed to be strongly resonant, with very well polarized modes. We demonstrate more than 80% transmission through a bowtie aperture array defined in a freestanding gold film under normally incident linearly polarized light at 9 µm. This exceeds the intensity on the open area by 4X. It also provides an extinction ratio greater than 200. We explain the experimental spectra using numerical simulation to identify the eigenmodes of the system and discuss how these can be adjusted to optimize the performance for sensing applications.
The advantages and some applications of Infrared Camera (IRS) data of HJ-1-B satellite
Paper 7807-41 of Conference 7807
Date: Thursday, 05 August 2010

Author(s): Sanchao Liu, Siquan Yang, Yida Fan, National Disaster Reduction Ctr. of China (China); Maofang Gao, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences (China)

No abstract available
Development of wireless mid-wave infrared (MWIR) detector by doping silicon carbide with gallium
Paper 7780B-21 of Conference 7780B
Date: Thursday, 05 August 2010

Author(s): Geunsik Lim, CREOL, The College of Optics and Photonics, Univ. of Central Florida (United States); Tariq Manzur, Naval Undersea Warfare Ctr. (United States); Aravinda Kar, CREOL, The College of Optics and Photonics, Univ. of Central Florida (United States)


It is a challenge to produce Mid-Wave Infra-Red (MWIR) detectors based on conventional semiconductors capable of operating at room temperature. Wavelength-tuned doped silicon carbide is shown to respond in the MWIR wavelength (3-6 micrometer) range with the potential for room temperature operation. Doped SiC photodetectors have been fabricated using a laser doping method, which is a nonequilibrium process for incorporating dopant atoms into semiconductors. Due to this mechanism, the concentration of dopants can exceed its solid solubility limit. An n-type 4H-SiC has been doped with Ga to create a detector element for the MWIR wavelength of 4.21 micrometer corresponding to a quantum of energy 0.30 eV. The Ga energy level in 4H-SiC was confirmed by optical absorption measurements. The doped sample exhibits a distinct change in its refractive index compared to the undoped sample at the wavelength 4.21 micrometer, indicating that the doped sample is a MWIR detector.
Toward single-photon imaging at short wave infrared (SWIR)
Paper 7780C-63 of Conference 7780C
Date: Thursday, 05 August 2010

Author(s): Omer G. Memis, John Kohoutek, Hooman Mohseni, Northwestern Univ. (United States)


We present our latest results from a novel nano-injector-base photon detector. Previously, we have demonstrated the excellent noise performance and large linear gain of single-element devices at room temperature. Here we demonstrate the first focal plane array (FPA) made from this unique device, and show that they hold their high gain and low noise performance at a good array uniformity. The high internal gain produces significantly better images at high frame rates, or at low light level conditions.
German infrared and night vision technology: from the beginning until 1945
Paper 7780B-22 of Conference 7780B
Date: Thursday, 05 August 2010

Author(s): Margit Krake, Helmut-Schmidt-Univ. (Germany)


Based on the invention of the photocell four German organizations forced the development of electrooptics in Germany: Allgemeine Electrizitaetsgesellschaft in Berlin, Zeiss in Jena, Electroacustik in Kiel and the research institute of the German Reichspost in Berlin. The outcome of this effort was: image converters with alkali and semiconductor photocathodes, infrared homing devices for anti aircraft missiles and heat bearing devices. This devices were used for instance with the German tank no. 5 Panther, the anti aircraft missiles Enzian and Schmetterling and for the coastal defense of Denmark. It is interesting to know that the infrared homing device of the sidewinder rocket is based on that of the Enzian. In the talk many more examples of German infrared and night vision technology will be given together with technical data.
Low bandgap small molecules for near-infrared photovoltaic applications
Paper 7777-38 of Conference 7777
Date: Thursday, 05 August 2010

Author(s): Mihaela Ballarotto, Warren N. Herman, Danilo B. Romero, Univ. of Maryland, College Park (United States)


Bilayer organic heterojunction photovoltaic devices were fabricated with aluminum phthalocyanine chloride (AlClPc) as electron donor and C60 as electron acceptor. The effect of temperature on the device characteristics was investigated. An unexpected linear increase of the photocurrent with temperature is reported while Voc presents a maximum of 1.04 V at 120 K followed by a decrease to 0.75 V at 300 K. We will explore the effect of impurities in AlClPc as well as the importance of interfacial layers inserted between the transparent ITO electrode and AlClPc to explain the observed temperature dependence of the photovoltaic characteristics.
Nanoscale type-II heterojunctions with infrared spatially indirect energy gaps
Paper 7758-33 of Conference 7758
Date: Thursday, 05 August 2010

Author(s): Doh C. Lee, Istvan Robel, Jeffrey M. Pietryga, Victor I. Klimov, Los Alamos National Lab. (United States)


Spatial separation of electrons and holes leads to increased recombination lifetimes, a key to successful extraction and collection of carriers in photovoltaic applications. Here, we present the synthesis of type-II heterostructured semiconductor nanocrystals with an energy gap near 1 eV. We synthesize PbSe-CdSe-CdS heterostructured nanocrystals with two distinct geometries - core-shell and tetrapods. These novel nanostructures exhibit extra-long carrier lifetimes (> 10 microseconds) that approach an ultimate limit as defined by radiative recombination. This pronounced type-II behavior in the infrared range combined with the controllable geometry are promising for applications in technologies ranging from lasing to photovoltaics.
Course: The Radiometry Case Files
Date: Tuesday, 03 August 2010

Instructor(s): Barbara G. Grant, Lines and Lights Technology (United States)


This course takes basic radiometric principles and applies them to calculate the amount of radiation reaching a system's entrance aperture or focal plane for a variety of source-system combinations. It provides a wide array of examples from which solutions to related problems may be drawn. It encompasses the UV, visible, and infrared regions of the electromagnetic spectrum, and includes several examples from The Art of Radiometry, published by SPIE Press in 2009. Typical applications to be addressed include solar and overcast sky irradiance, radiometric calibration, sensor signals from specular and diffuse reflectors, infrared imagery, star sensing, solar simulators and integrating spheres.
Lessons learned in the design of the WISE payload
Paper 7796-5 of Conference 7796
Date: Monday, 02 August 2010

Author(s): Mark F. Larsen, Space Dynamics Lab. (United States); Scott H. Schick, Practical Technology Solutions, Inc. (United States); Joel G. Cardon, John D. Elwell, Space Dynamics Lab. (United States); Edward L. Wright, Univ. of California, Los Angeles (United States); Valerie G. Duval, Peter R. Eisenhardt, Jet Propulsion Lab. (United States); Roy W. Esplin, Space Dynamics Lab. (United States)


The Wide Field Infrared Survey Explorer is a NASA Medium Class Explorer mission which launched in December, 2009 to perform an all-sky survey in four infrared wavelength bands. The survey has been highly successful, with millions of images collected, and nearly daily discoveries of previously unknown astronomical objects. The WISE science payload was designed, built, and characterized by the Space Dynamics Laboratory at Utah State University. The science payload is a cryogenically cooled infrared telescope with four 10242 infrared focal plane arrays covering the wavelength range from 2.8 to 26 µm. Mercury cadmium telluride (MCT) detectors, cooled to 32 K, are used for the two midwave channels (3.3 µm and 4.6 µm), and Si:As detectors, cooled to < 8.3 K, are used for the two long wavelength channels (12 µm and 23 µm). Cooling is provided by a two-stage solid hydrogen cryostat which provides temperatures < 17 K and < 8.3 K at the telescope and Si:As focal planes, respectively. This paper discusses the WISE science payload, provides a brief overview of on-orbit performance, and describes lessons learned from the design of the payload.
Pre-launch characterization and performance of the WISE payload
Paper 7808-50 of Conference 7808
Date: Tuesday, 03 August 2010

Author(s): Harri M. Latvakoski, Joel G. Cardon, Roy W. Esplin, Mark F. Larsen, John D. Elwell, Utah State Univ. (United States)


The Wide Field Infrared Survey Explorer (WISE), launched on December 14, 2009, is a NASA Explorer mission that will provide an all-sky survey in the mid-infrared with far greater sensitivity and resolution than any previous infrared survey mission. We will provide a brief overview of the payload, discuss the overall characterization approach, review several pre-launch characterization methods in detail, and present selected results from ground characterization and early on-orbit performance.
Optimization of readout circuit with background suppression for dual-band quantum well infrared focal plane array photodetector
Paper 7780B-38 of Conference 7780B
Date: Wednesday, 04 August 2010

Author(s): Yi-Chuan Lu, Tai-Ping Sun, Hsiu-Li Shieh, Jian-Cheng Ye, National Chi Nan Univ. (Taiwan); Sen-Chuan Hung, Pan Signal Technology, Inc. (Taiwan); Meng-Lieh Sheu, National Chi Nan Univ. (Taiwan); Shiang-Feng Tang, Wen-Jen Lin, Chung-Shan Institute of Science and Technology (Taiwan)


This paper discusses about a readout circuit for Dual-Band Quantum Well Infrared Photo-detectors (DBQWIP) interlaced focal plane array infrared image system. In this research, we will present the study of modified dark-current cancellation circuit. The sensing photo-current from 1nA to 10nA of long-wave infrared signal, mid-wave infrared photo-current is about 100pA to 1nA, the dark current is set up to 100nA. The area of unit pixel is 30×30um2 . The 8x6 focal-plane array is designed by using TSMC 0.35um 2P4M CMOS process. This work has 3.3V power supply and readouts data at 2.5MHz clock rate. The simulated output voltage range of LWIR and MWIR photo-current are 0.95v and 0.76v, respectively.
Organic up-conversion devices
Paper 7779-11 of Conference 7779
Date: Thursday, 05 August 2010

Author(s): Do Young Kim, Dong Woo Song, Franky So, Univ. of Florida (United States)


Organic light up-conversion devices are attractive for infrared imaging because their low costs and compatibility with plastic substrates. Here, we demonstrated up-conversion devices using tin phthalocyanine (SnPc):C60 bulk heterostructure layer as a NIR sensitizer and fac-tris(2-phenylpyridinato) iridium (III) (Irppy3) as the emitter. Without infrared light irradiation, emission was not observed in the up-conversion until 13 V. On the contrary, when the device was irradiated with infrared light, the device turned on at 2.7 V with a maximum current efficiency of 107 cd/A at a luminance of 100 cd/m2.
New Fellows
Date:

Author(s):


SPIE will honor 62 new Fellows of the Society this year. Fellows are members of distinction who have made significant scientific and technical contributions in the multidisciplinary fields of optics, photonics, and imaging. They are honored for their technical achievement, for their service to the general optics community, and to SPIE in particular. More than 800 SPIE members have become Fellows since the Society's inception in 1955.

Of these 62 new Fellows, these twelve will each receive a plaque and formal recognition at the Optics & Photonics Banquet on Wednesday 4 August:




Dr. Juan Campos
Univ. Autonoma de Barcelona, Spain for specific achievements in optical image processing and modeling of liquid crystal panels.







Dr. Thomas J. Jackson
U.S. Dept. of Agriculture, United States
for specific achievements in remote sensing in hydrology.







Dr. Thomas J. Karr
Northrup Grumman Corp., United States
for specific achievements in ladar and directed energy developments.







Dr. Paul D. LeVan
Air Force Research Lab., United States
for specific achievements in electro-optics, infrared sensors and spectrometers.







Prof. Ching Fuh-Lin
National Taiwan Univ., Taiwan
for specific achievements in Si-based photonics and nanophotonics.







Prof. Hooman Mohseni
Northwestern Univ., United States
for specific achievements in Novel heterojunction photon detectors.







Prof. Iain Neil
ScotOptix, Switzerland
for specific achievements in optical design, assembly, and testing of high performance visual and infrared lenses.

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Extended inter-comparison of collocated MetOp-A AVHRR - IASI brightness temperature data and its implication for AVHRR calibration
Paper 7811-7 of Conference 7811
Date: Sunday, 01 August 2010

Author(s): Rama Varma Raja Mundakkara Kovilakom, Xiangqian Wu, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (United States)


Infrared Atmospheric Sounding Interferometer (IASI) is a well calibrated instrument on-board MetOp-A satellite, with proven high quality radiometric and spectral calibration accuracy. Thus IASI measurements can be used for the assessment of calibration accuracy of collocated measurements from independent satellite instruments in the corresponding spectral bands. In this study, IASI radiance spectra are convolved with AVHRR spectral response functions for infrared channels. A statistical comparison of data comprising spectrally convolved IASI and co-registered AVHRR measurements for a period of one year (2008) is performed. The seasonal dependency of the statistical agreement between IASI and AVHRR infrared measurements are discussed. Analyses for delineating the root causes for the discrepancies and implications of the results for AVHRR calibration are presented.
Systems approach to developing a climate data record from satellite observations
Paper 7813-10 of Conference 7813
Date: Monday, 02 August 2010

Author(s): Thomas S. Pagano, Denis A. Elliott, Steve E. Broberg, Jet Propulsion Lab. (United States)


A Climate Data Record (CDR) consists of a body of information of some observable of the Earth's climate that is of sufficient information content and accuracy to allow climate science to be performed with this record now and in the distant future. We examine the generation of a hyperspectral infrared CDR for the Atmospheric Infrared Sounder (AIRS) instrument as good example. A Systems Engineering approach is used to define the requirements for the AIRS hyperspectral infrared climate data record, for performance, characterization, and documentation. Examples are given from the AIRS project activities on how the record can be created including a comprehensive drawing database, a document archive for all pre-flight and in-flight procedures and reports, software and data archiving, and instrument performance verification and validation for compliance with climate science requirements.
The HATI-2500 hyperspectral imager: instrument performance and remote sensing applications
Paper 7813-26 of Conference 7813
Date: Monday, 02 August 2010

Author(s): Stephanie R. Sandor-Leahy, S. Thordarson, Brian Baldauf, M. Figueroa, Mark C. Helmlinger, Harold E. Miller, Jr., Taryn Reynolds, John Shepanski, Northrop Grumman Aerospace Systems (United States)


Northrop Grumman Aerospace Systems (NGAS) has a long legacy developing and fielding hyperspectral sensors, including airborne and space based systems covering the visible through Long Wave Infrared (LWIR) wavelength ranges. Most recently NGAS has developed the Hyperspectral Airborne Terrstial Instrument (HATI) family of hyperspectral sensors, which are compact airborne hyperspectral imagers designed to fly on a variety of platforms and be integrated with other sensors in NGAS's instrument suite. The current sensor under development is the HATI-2500, a full range Visible Near Infrared (VNIR) through Short Wave Infrared (SWIR) instrument covering the 0.4 - 2.5 micron wavelength range with high spectral resolution (3nm). The system includes a framing camera integrated with a GPS/INS to provide high-resolution multispectral imagery and precision geolocation. Its compact size and flexible acquisition parameters allow HATI-2500 to be integrated on a large variety of aerial platforms. This paper describes the HATI-2500 sensor and subsystems and its expected performance specifications.
Comparison of AIRS and IASI co-located radiances for cold scenes
Paper 7807-18 of Conference 7807
Date: Tuesday, 03 August 2010

Author(s): Denis A. Elliott, Hartmut H. Aumann, Jet Propulsion Lab. (United States)


Calibration of infrared radiometers at cold scene temperatures is very difficult to perform and to verify. But high accuracy even at cold temperatures is critical for establishing a climate-quality data record. This study describes the comparison of radiances from two sensors, the Infrared Atmospheric Sounding Interferometer (IASI) and the Atmospheric Infrared Sounder (AIRS), over Dome Concordia, Antarctica. The existence of an automated weather station on the ground at the site greatly facilitates the comparisons. Agreement between the two instruments for such scenes would strengthen the case that both are producing valid results across a range of scene temperatures.


HOT and multicolor detectors using barrier engineered quantum dots in a well and type II strained layer superlattice structures
Paper 7808-3 of Conference 7808
Date: Sunday, 01 August 2010

Author(s): Sanjay Krishna, The Univ. of New Mexico (United States)


The emphasis on third generation infrared detectors is on developing detectors with (a) Higher Operating Temperature (HOT), (b) Multicolor functionality and (c) Large Format Arrays. This presentation will be focused on the design, growth and fabrication of infrared detectors for higher operating temperature (HOT) and multicolor detectors using two material systems, which are emerging as promising technologies for this wavelength range. These are (i) InAs/InGaAs self assembled quantum dots in well (DWELL) Detectors and InAs/(In,Ga)Sb strain layer superlattices (SLS) Detectors.
MERTIS: optics manufacturing and verification
Paper 7808-24 of Conference 7808
Date: Monday, 02 August 2010

Author(s): Andreas Gebhardt, Stefan Risse, Sebastian Scheiding, Ralf Steinkopf, Christoph Damm, Fraunhofer-Institut für Angewandte Optik und Feinmechanik (Germany); Thomas Zeh, Stefan Kaiser, Kayser-Threde GmbH (Germany)


The MERTIS reflective infrared optics can be reasonable implemented as diamond turned aluminium mirrors coated with a thin gold layer. The cutting processes allow the manufacturing of both, the optical surface and mechanical references, in tight tolerances. This is one of the major advantages of SPDT and was consequently used for the MERTIS sensor head optics. This paper describes the entire manufacturing chain of the MERTIS spectrometer optics including the manufacturing methods for the mirrors and for the spherical grating, the coating with sputtered gold for infrared reflectivity as well as the alignment and the verification of the spectrometer optics
Technologies supporting radiative science
Paper 7808-25 of Conference 7808
Date: Monday, 02 August 2010

Author(s): Robert A. Bauer, George J. Komar, Philip M. Larkin, Keith E. Murray, Michael P. Pasciuto, Amy L. Walton, NASA Earth Science Technology Office (United States)


A decade of investments by the NASA Earth Science Technology Office (ESTO) have contributed to the current mission concepts and technology heritage of the Climate Absolute Radiance and Refractivity Observatory (CLARREO) mission. Prior ESTO investments include the Far-Infrared Spectroscopy of the Troposphere (FIRST) instrument, which is being used as a testbed for demonstrating detectors currently under development. Recent investments are aimed at the CLARREO goals of high absolute accuracy and on-orbit international measurement standards traceability, including a prototype hyperspectral imager, extended blocked impurity band detectors for far-infrared detection, and a high-accuracy blackbody.
Cloud physical parameters retrieved from satellite and sounding data and their applications in weather modification
Paper 7811-19 of Conference 7811
Date: Monday, 02 August 2010

Author(s): Huang Yimei, Weather Modification Ctr. (China)


This paper, basing itself on the pattern of SBDART radiation transmission to get the relation between the height, temperature of cloud top, the effective radius and the bright temperature of the two infrared channels, and on iterative method of repetitive employ of radiation pattern, improves the ways of retrieve, and issues a new way of the combination of multi-station immediate time observation and the data of the 1 and 2 infrared channels to retrieve the height, temperature and effective radius. This paper proves that the improved method, having introduced the immediate time soundings, will improve the accuracy of the retrieve.
Nanoimprinted polymer chips for light induced local heating of liquids in micro- and nanochannels
Paper 7764-17 of Conference 7764
Date: Tuesday, 03 August 2010

Author(s): Lasse H. Thamdrup, Jonas N. Pedersen, Henrik Flyvbjerg, Anders Kristensen, Technical Univ. of Denmark (Denmark)


We present a nanoimprinted polymer chip with a thin near-infrared absorber layer that enables light-induced local heating (LILH) of liquids inside micro- and nanochannels. An infrared laser spot and corresponding hot-spot could be scanned across the device. Large temperature gradients yield thermophoretic forces, which are used to manipulate and stretch individual DNA molecules confined in nanochannels.
Integration of advanced optical functions near the focal plane array: First steps towards the on-chip infrared camera
Paper 7787-5 of Conference 7787
Date: Wednesday, 04 August 2010

Author(s): Florence de la Barriere, Guillaume Druart, Nicolas Guérineau, ONERA (France); Jean Taboury, Institut d'Optique Graduate School (France); Manuel Fendler, Commissariat à l'Énergie Atomique (France)


Today, both military and civilian applications require miniaturized and cheap optical systems. The miniaturization of imaging systems leads to breakthroughs in optical design: for example, multichannel systems inspired by the compound eyes of insects offer great opportunities. An interesting approach is to take advantage of the infrared focal plane array technology and environment to integrate these systems near the detector. This paper presents a compact optical architecture based on a multichannel imaging system entirely integrated in the dewar used to cool the detector, leading to the possible design of an on-chip infrared camera.
A normal-incident quantum well infrared photodetector enhanced by surface plasmon resonance (Oral Standby)
Paper 7780B-45 of Conference 7780B
Date: Wednesday, 04 August 2010

Author(s): Wei Wu, Alireza Bonakdar, Ryan Gelfand, Hooman Mohseni, Northwestern Univ. (United States)


A normal-incident quantum well infrared photodetector with a high detectivity enhanced by surface plasmonic arrays are presented. The periodic holes array perforated in gold film was used to convert the normal-incident infrared light to surface plasmon waves, which can excite the intersubband transitions in the quantum wells and be absorbed. The experimental results showed that the photodetector had a peak detection wavelength at ~8 um with a high detectivity of ~7.4x1010 Jones, and the photocurrent spectrum was very close to the simulation result of the plasmonic enhancement spectrum.
A novel bi-material cantilever IR imaging optical system: from design to implementation
Paper 7780A-20 of Conference 7780A
Date: Wednesday, 04 August 2010

Author(s): Xuhong Chu, Liquan Dong, Yuejin Zhao, Beijing Institute of Technology (China)


Uncooled infrared imaging technology is developed rapidly in these years, because of its size, weight and power consumption. This focus on the novel bi-material cantilever focal plane array (FPA) IR imaging technology, designed a new imaging optical system, and implemented a set of miniaturized uncooled infrared imaging optical system prototype. The prototype can be a better imaging and NETD is less than 200mk.
Molecules and materials of astrobiological interest on outer solar system bodies
Paper 7819-32 of Conference 7819
Date: Thursday, 05 August 2010

Author(s): Dale Cruikshank, NASA Ames Research Ctr. (United States)


The exploration of planetary bodies in the outer Solar System with Earth-based and space-based telescopes, as well as planetary probes, continues to reveal molecules and materials of clear astrobiological interest and importance. Remote sensing observations, primarily through the techniques of infrared spectroscopy, show the presence of organic molecules such as methane and methanol, nitriles (e.g., HCN), and classes of organic molecules that include aliphatic and aromatic hydrocarbons. In addition, the presence of macromolecular carbonaceous materials of incompletely determined structure (termed tholins) is inferred from the colors of planetary bodies measured through visible and infrared spectrophotometric techniques. Three examples are discussed:
A comparison of the Antarctic Dome C and Sonoran desert sites for the Cal/Val of visible and near-infrared radiometers
Paper 7811-6 of Conference 7811
Date: Sunday, 01 August 2010

Author(s): Sirish Uprety, Perot Systems Government Services (United States); Changyong Cao, NOAA/NESDIS/STAR (United States)


Stable earth sites are essential for comparing the measurements from different satellite instruments in the visible and near-infrared in order to maintain the consistency of radiometric calibration, and for quantifying the sensor degradation over time. This study focuses on the analysis and comparison between the two potential calibration sites, Dome C and Sonoran desert for their temporal, spatial and spectral stability. The long term stability trend analysis using MODIS observation shows that the stability of Dome C and Sonoran desert is better than 2% over the period of 8 years. The study also shows that the Dome C is much affected by seasonal variation due to bi-directional reflection although the BRDF normalization reduced the uncertainty of Dome C observations to less than 2% for both the visible and NIR band. The study also indicated that the Sonoran desert is more affected by water vapor compared to Dome C. The spectral characteristics of these sites studied using EO-1 Hyperion sensor further show the water vapor absorption differences at the two sites. The study suggests that, both Dome C and Sonoran desert sites can be used for postlaunch calibration/validation of the visible/near-infrared bands with uncertainty less than 2%.
Impurity band in insulating and metallic Ga1-xMnxAs: An infrared study
Paper 7760-10 of Conference 7760
Date: Sunday, 01 August 2010

Author(s): Dmitri N. Basov, Univ. of California, San Diego (United States)


Ga1-xMnxAs films with gradients of As:Ga across the wafer allowed us to investigate the evolution of the impurity band (IB) properties with Mn doping and As anti-site compensation. For Mn concentrations below x=1% we observed a narrow IB detached from the valence band of the host. Thermally activated carries freeze out at low temperature enabling unobstructed access to the spectra associated with the IB. The effective mass of mobile holes in ferromagnetic samples exceeds expectations for the valence band conduction but reveals noticeable lightening below the Curie temperature. We observed spectroscopic signatures of the IB in samples with Mn concentration up to x=16%.
Predicting top-of-atmosphere radiance for arbitrary viewing geometries from the visible to thermal infrared: generalization to arbitrary average scene temperatures
Paper 7813-7 of Conference 7813
Date: Monday, 02 August 2010

Author(s): Christopher J. Florio, Stephen A. Cota, Stephanie Gaffney, The Aerospace Corp. (United States)


Pending release approval.
Optical measurement for the concentrations of the pickling acid with near infrared spectroscopy in steel making industry
Paper 7792-16 of Conference 7792
Date: Monday, 02 August 2010

Author(s): Gumin Kang, Kwangchil Lee, Haesung Park, Jinho Lee, Youngjean Jung, Kyoungsik Kim, Yonsei Univ. (Korea, Republic of)


In the manufacturing process of stainless steel, it is essential to pickle the oxide layer of steel surface for high corrosion resistance and fine surface quality. Pickling liquor of stainless steel is commonly composed of mixed hydrofluoric and nitric acid. Real time monitoring of concentrations of each acid is crucial to optimize pickling process. It also reduces cost of production and decreases the generation of waste acid. We used non-contact near infrared spectroscopy technique and rapid analysis method, for the quantification of each acid in an on-line manner. Multivariate calibration such as partial least square regression method is employed for the better prediction results.
An improved general mono-window algorithm to retrieve land surface temperature for HJ-1-B thermal infrared data
Paper 7807-50 of Conference 7807
Date: Monday, 02 August 2010

Author(s): Sanchao Liu, National Disaster Reduction Ctr. of China (China); Maofang Gao, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences (China); Qin-Huo Liu, Institute of Remote Sensing Applications (China)

No abstract available
Infrared radiometer for spectral contrast of objects in changing backgrounds in real time (Background Discrimination Radiometer or BDR)
Paper 7808-35 of Conference 7808
Date: Tuesday, 03 August 2010

Author(s): Dario Cabib, CI Systems (Israel) Ltd. (Israel)


An infrared radiometer was developed several years ago to measure the contrast of a moving object against its background in real time. A classical example of application is measuring the radiant intensity contrast of an airplane or of a missile in the background of sky while the target is flying, by being tracked and kept in the field of view of the radiometer at all times. The instrument is built so that it can measure this contrast in one wavelength or wavelength range as function of time or in successive wavelength ranges to provide spectral contrast information in absolute units of Watts/steradian. We present here the instrument's design, its calibration algorithm, the method of use, its new Windows user interface and examples of measurement results.
A systems level characterization and performance trade space analysis of a simulated airborne Fourier Transform Infrared Spectrometer in the detection and identification of gaseous plumes
Paper 7812-26 of Conference 7812
Date: Tuesday, 03 August 2010

Author(s): Aaron Weiner, David W. Messinger, Rochester Institute of Technology (United States)


It is of interest to achieve rapid scan rates during airborne spectral collection as spectral and spatial blur introduced via platform motion can be minimized. Fourier Transform Infrared Spectrometers (FTS) are well suited to this task. Unfortunately, the trade in an FTS between scan rate and resolution approaches a limiting relationship. An FTS simulation has been developed incorporating multiple instrument and scene parameters to evaluate the system-level trade space. A detection metric comprised of multiple detector algorithms is used to characterize system performance. Results will be shown characterizing system performance degradation under a variety of environmental and system performance conditions.
Establishing a new NIST facility for the primary realization of spectral radiance, emittance, and reflectance in the mid- and far-infrared
Paper 7808-45 of Conference 7808
Date: Tuesday, 03 August 2010

Author(s): Sergey N. Mekhontsev, Leonard M. Hanssen, Vladimir Khromchenko, Boris Wilthan, National Institute of Standards and Technology (United States)


A new primary standard facility is being established for realization of both spectral radiance and reflectance in the mid-and far-infrared. The objective of the new facility is to develop an advanced primary standard with proven accuracy and based on fundamental and reproducible physical standards to assure SI traceability. The measurements of diffuse reflectance and directional emittance will be supported for the wavelengths up to 50 micrometers, incidence angles up to 85 degrees, and temperatures from 190 K to 520 K. Spectral radiance and radiance temperature scales will be realized and transferred to the user sources and sensors over the same temperature and spectral range. This effort will establish a common calibration scale for satellite and validation instruments and will facilitate continuity and comparability of national and global climate change data sets.
Scattering mechanisms and electronic transport properties in a Hg1-xCdxTe medium-infrared detector
Paper 7780A-6 of Conference 7780A
Date: Wednesday, 04 August 2010

Author(s): Abdelhakim Nafidi, Univ. Ibn Zohr (Morocco)


We report here transport properties measurements and theoretical results on modeling carrier charge mobility in Hg 1-xCdxTe (x =0.22). Conductivity and Hall Effect were measured in the temperature range 4.2 - 300 K. Our measurements indicate that the sample is n-type semiconductor. In intrinsic regime, the slope of the curve RH T3/2 indicates a gap of 178 meV witch agree well with calculated Eg (x = 0.22, 300 K) = 183 meV. Our theoretical calculations, according to the Kane model, show that the Fermi energy EF increases with temperature. The calculated donor state Ed is 2.8 meV above the conduction band at 4.2 K and agrees well with 0.67 meV of low field Hall effect measurements. At high temperatures, an excellent agreement between experimental and calculated scattering mobility. The detection wave length situates the sample as medium-infrared detector.
A single mm-sized droplet formation in glycine and urea solutions by photon pressure of a focused near-infrared laser beam
Paper 7762-119 of Conference 7762
Date: Wednesday, 04 August 2010

Author(s): Kenichi Yuyama, Kei Ishiguro, Thitiporn Rungsimanon, Teruki Sugiyama, Nara Institute of Science and Technology (Japan); Hiroshi M. Masuhara, National Chiao Tung Univ. (Taiwan) and Nara Institute of Science and Technology (Japan)


We present novel phenomena induced by applying photon pressure to glycine and urea solutions. When focusing a near-infrared laser beam at their glass/solution interfaces, a single dense liquid droplet is formed in either case. The size is estimated to be a few mm, which is much larger than that of the focal spot. For glycine, shifting the focal position to the droplet surface induces its crystallization, while, for urea, a μm-scale assembly is only formed, leading to no crystallization. These phenomena are discussed in view of optical trapping of the clusters, local temperature elevation, and mass transfer by convection.
Design considerations and experiment of mid-infrared CH4 concentration detection system based on thermopile sensor
Paper 7780A-18 of Conference 7780A
Date: Wednesday, 04 August 2010

Author(s): Wei-Lin Ye, Chuan-Tao Zheng, Xin Yu, Zhan-Wei Song, Yiding Wang, Jilin Univ. (China)


To improve the performances of the CH4 concentration detection system based on thermopile sensor, design considerations including hardware and software are proposed. Constant voltage circuit, pre-amplifying circuit, ultra-narrow band-pass circuit at 4 Hz, diode-detection and adjust circuits and software-based modern digital filter are thoroughly addressed. Experiments show that by using the proposed design approaches, the de-noised signal can be up to 4 V with the signal-noise-ratio (SNR) as high as 2000/1, and the measured detection sensitivity is up to 50 ppm with the detection limit below 50 ppm, for CH4 concentration.
An apertureless near-field scanning optical microscope for imaging surface plasmons in the mid-wave infrared
Paper 7787-27 of Conference 7787
Date: Thursday, 05 August 2010

Author(s): John Kohoutek, Ryan Gelfand, Dibyendu Dey, Hooman Mohseni, Northwestern Univ. (United States)


We present an experimental technique for imaging surface plasmons in the mid-wave infrared region. The near field scanning optical microscope (NSOM) involves reflecting light from an edge emitting quantum-cascade-laser off of a metal coated atomic force microscope tip and then going back through the laser. We use a lock-in amplifier to lock to the harmonics of the AFM tip vibration frequency. This setup has topographic imaging in parallel with the infrared near-field such that the active source can easily be found. Detailed will be our experimental setup and results, with applications in biosensing, chemical sensing, plasmonic characterization, and laser diagnostics.
The WISE satellite development: managing the risks and the opportunities
Paper 7796-13 of Conference 7796
Date: Monday, 02 August 2010

Author(s): Valerie G. Duval, Jet Propulsion Lab. (United States); John D. Elwell, Space Dynamics Lab. (United States); Joan F. Howard, Ball Aerospace & Technologies Corp. (United States); William R. Irace, Feng-Chuan Liu, Jet Propulsion Lab. (United States)


NASA's Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer (WISE) MIDEX mission is surveying the entire sky in four infrared bands from 3.4 to 22 microns. The WISE instrument consists of a 40 cm telescope, a solid hydrogen cryostat, a scan mirror mechanism, and four 1K x1K infrared detector. The WISE spacecraft bus provides communication, data handling, and avionics including instrument pointing. A Delta 7920 successfully launched WISE into a Sun-synchronous polar orbit on December 14, 2009. WISE was competitively selected by NASA as a Medium cost Explorer mission (MIDEX) in 2002. MIDEX missions are led by the Principal Investigator who delegates day-to-day management to the Project Manager. Given the tight cost cap and relatively short development schedule, NASA chose to extend the development period one year with an option to cancel the mission if certain criteria were not met. To meet this and other challenges, the WISE management team had to learn to work seamlessly across institutional lines and to recognize risks and opportunities in order to develop the flight hardware within the project resources. In spite of significant technical issues, the WISE satellite was delivered on budget and on schedule. This paper describes our management approach and risk posture, technical issues, and critical decisions made.
Course: Radiometry Revealed
Date: Tuesday, 03 August 2010

Instructor(s): Joseph A. Shaw, Montana State Univ. (United States)


This course explains basic principles and applications of radiometry and photometry. A primary goal of the course is to reveal the logic, systematic order, and methodology behind what sometimes appears to be a confusing branch of optical science and engineering. Examples are taken from the ultraviolet through the long-wave infrared portions of the electromagnetic spectrum. Anyone who wants to answer questions such as, "how many watts or photons do I have?" or "how much optical energy or radiation do I need?" will benefit from taking this course.
Course: Introduction to Optical Remote Sensing Systems
Date: Tuesday, 03 August 2010

Instructor(s): Joseph A. Shaw, Montana State Univ. (United States)


This course provides a broad introduction to optical remote sensing systems, including both passive sensors (e.g., radiometers and spectral imagers) and active sensors (e.g., laser radars or LIDARs). A brief review of basic principles of radiometry and atmospheric propagation (absorption, emission, and scattering) is followed by a system-level discussion of a variety of ground-, air-, and space-based remote sensing systems. Key equations are presented for predicting the optical resolution and signal-to-noise performance of passive and active sensing systems. Sensor system examples discussed in the class include solar radiometers, passive spectrometers and hyperspectral imagers, airborne imaging spectrometers, thermal infrared imagers, polarization imagers, and active laser radars (LIDARs and LADARs). The course material is directly relevant to sensing in environmental, civilian, military, astronomical, and solar energy applications.
SPIE 2010 Annual Awards Banquet
Date: Wednesday, 04 August 2010

Author(s):


San Diego Marriott Hotel and Marina
Wednesday 4 August 2010
SPIE President Ralph B. James presiding

Marriott Hotel, Marina Ballroom
Banquet and Awards presentations 7:30 pm

SPIE President Ralph B. James will preside over the 2010 Awards Banquet that will include the presentation of the 2010 Society awards, scholarship awards, and new Fellows of the Society.

Join us for this gala event and enjoy a presentation by the 2010 recipient of the SPIE Gold Medal, Dr. Charles H. Townes, professor at the University of California, Berkley and winner of the 1964 Nobel Prize in Physics. Dr. Townes' talk titled "The Sizes, Shapes, and Changes of Old Stars" will discuss old stars that are very active and changing rapidly. Infrared interferometry on them will be reported, which measures these changes and the material they blow off from time to time.

Tickets for the banquet are not included in the registration fee but may be ordered on the registration form or purchased on site at the SPIE Cashier Desk until 12 noon on Tuesday, 3 August.


Hyperspectral thermal emission spectrometer: a new imaging spectrometer for earth science
Paper 7812-2 of Conference 7812
Date: Monday, 02 August 2010

Author(s): William R. Johnson, Simon Hook, Pantazis Mouroulis, Daniel W. Wilson, Sarath D. Gunapala, Cory Hill, Andrew Lamborn, Chris Paine, Vincent Realmuto, Bjorn Eng, Jet Propulsion Lab. (United States)


The Hyperspectral thermal emission spectrometer will be the premiere airborne imaging spectrometer system used for the earth observing thermal infrared. Its development is being undertaken end-to-end at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory and offers a complete system for understanding science concerns related to earth and water skin surface measurements. . It utilizes at its core many key enabling state-of-the-art technologies including a high performance convex diffraction grating, a response uniform quantum well infrared photodetector, and a compact Dyson-inspired optical design. These testbed results are in preparation for the deployment of the HyTES which is currently being funded under NASA's instrument incubator program.
Synthetic scene built for testing thermal signature tracking algorithms
Paper 7813-8 of Conference 7813
Date: Monday, 02 August 2010

Author(s): David Rhodes, Zoran Ninkov, Rochester Institute of Technology (United States); Judith L. Pipher, Craig W. McMurtry, Univ. of Rochester (United States); J. Daniel Newman, Paul P. K. Lee, Gregory J. Gosian, ITT Corp. (United States); Michael D. Presnar, Rochester Institute of Technology (United States)


The development and testing of thermal signature tracking algorithms burdens the developer with a method of testing the algorithm's fidelity. The use of actual video is problematic as it requires a vast range of data to be collected to evaluate performance in a variety of situations. We are developing accurate synthetic thermal infrared models of vehicles that will be incorporated into background infrared images generated using the Digital Image and Remote Sensing Image Generation (DIRSIG) package. Mobility for the targets is being generated using the open source Simulation of Urban Mobility (SUMO) package. The goal is to accurately incorporate thermal signatures of moving targets into model of the scene and test tracking algorithms.
WISE ground characterization challenges and accomplishments
Paper 7796-12 of Conference 7796
Date: Monday, 02 August 2010

Author(s): Joel G. Cardon, Harri Latvakoski, Mark F. Larsen, John D. Elwell, Space Dynamics Lab. (United States); Amanda K. Mainzer, Ingolf H. Heinrichsen, Jet Propulsion Lab. (United States)


NASA's Wide Field Infrared Survey Explorer (WISE), which launched in December 2009, is currently producing an all-sky survey in the mid-infrared (2.8 - 26 microns) with far greater sensitivity and resolution than any previous IR survey mission. The ongoing on-orbit calibration of the instrument is performed at the Wise Science Data Center (WSDC), but several of the calibration parameters of interest were best measured on the ground, and have been maintained as part of the on-orbit calibration process. The Utah State University Space Dynamics Laboratory (SDL) built the science payload, and performed a series of ground characterization tests prior to launch. A challenge in a MIDEX mission such as WISE is to balance the various program demands to perform a thorough ground calibration within schedule constraints, while also demonstrating compliance with formal flow-down requirements, and simultaneously verifying that performance has not been degraded during late-program environmental testing. These activities are not always entirely compatible. This paper presents an assessment of ground characterization challenges and solutions that contributed to a successful WISE mission.
Investigation of the temperature dependent complex index of refraction of infra-red thin-film coating materials
Paper 7786-46 of Conference 7786
Date: Monday, 02 August 2010

Author(s): Lucas Alves, Deposition Sciences, Inc. (United States)


While extensive coverage of the optical properties of infrared substrate materials can be found in literature, limited experimental data are available on the complex refractive index properties of thin-film infrared coating materials in the 2.0-30.0um wavelength space. Index of refraction (n) and extinction coefficient (k) models are presented for germanium (Ge), zinc sulphide (ZnS), and silicon monoxide (SiO), at temperatures ranging from 25-298K. The models are presented as variations of 4th to 6th order Sellmeier and Cauchy polynomials, with embedded temperature coefficients. The spectra of thin-film interference filters designed using the high-order polynomial dispersion models are characterized at ambient and cryogenic temperatures, and used to validate the models developed.
Optical design of a compact long-range thermal imager for 3-5 micron wave band
Paper 7787-32 of Conference 7787
Date: Monday, 02 August 2010

Author(s): Ramin Khoei, Islamic Azad Univ. (Iran, Islamic Republic of)


In this work, the optical design of a fixed focus thermal imaging camera working in 3-5 micron wave band is presented. Infrared waves are collected by designed optic on an MCT 320x256 focal plane array with 30 micron pixel pitch. The system focal point is 200mm and calculated from Johnson`s criteria versus system resolution to detect and recognize not very small objects from intermediate distances. The system has F#2 according to detector`s field of view. A large amount of vignetting occurs when we use cooled infrared detector because of exit pupil and diaphragm position.To fight with this effect, the system is made of an objective with a relay lens. The objective is designed as two mirror Cassegrain and the relay system is designed in the way that the principal planes locate near he relay lens surface. In this way, the objective focal point sit near the relay surface. Thus, the system will be shorter than simple designed one.
Monte Carlo modeling of on-orbit blackbody emissivity monitoring techniques
Paper 7808-46 of Conference 7808
Date: Tuesday, 03 August 2010

Author(s): Leonard M. Hanssen, Sergey N. Mekhontsev, Alexander Prokhorov, National Institute of Standards and Technology (United States)


A chief goal of NASA's Climate Absolute Radiance and Refractivity Observatory (CLARREO) mission is the measurement of earth's infrared emitted radiance. The primary method envisaged for SI traceability is through an onboard variable temperature reference blackbody (BB) source. The two quantities that determine the BB spectral radiance, via the Planck equation, are the BB temperature and its effective spectral emissivity. We are involved in a comprehensive effort to support traceability via both experimental calibrations and modeling. In this paper we present the results of a Monte-Carlo modeling study of two on-orbit monitoring methods proposed for the CLARREO reference BB's infrared emissivity.
A systematic study of the BRDF of diffuse reflecting standard materials from 1 μm to 2.5 μm
Paper 7792-37 of Conference 7792
Date: Wednesday, 04 August 2010

Author(s): Jinan Zeng, Leonard M. Hanssen, National Institute of Standards and Technology (United States)


The bidirectional reflectance distribution function (BRDF) and directional-hemispherical reflectance of diffuse reflecting standards such as pressed powder and sintered polytetrafluroethylene (PTFE) are widely used to support calibrations for remote sensing and numerous other applications. A systematic BRDF investigation from 1000 nm to 2500 nm can provide critical knowledge of the optical behavior of standard diffusers. Our BRDF measurement is conducted with NIST's Infrared Laser-based Gonioreflectometer Instrument (ILGRI) using an infrared tunable laser source. A comparison of the normalized BRDF over the spectral range is also made to examine its wavelength dependence. The major sources of errors will also be discussed.
High-performance large format impurity band conductor focal plane arrays for astronomy applications
Paper 7780A-2 of Conference 7780A
Date: Wednesday, 04 August 2010

Author(s): John M. Edwards, Robert E. Mills, Eric Beuville, Andrew G. Toth, Elizabeth Corrales, Neil Therrien, Raytheon Co. (United States); Gert Finger, European Organisation for Astronomical Research in the Southern Hemisphere (Germany)


Raytheon Vision Systems (RVS) has developed a family of high performance large format infrared detector arrays whose detectors are most effective for the detection of long and very long wavelength infrared energy. This paper describes the state of the art in mega-pixel Si: As Impurity Band Conduction (IBC) arrays and relevant system applications. Raytheon's Aquarius-1k, developed in collaboration with ESO, is a 1024 × 1024 pixel high performance array with a 30μm pitch that features high quantum efficiency IBC detectors, low noise, low dark current, and on-chip clocking for ease of operation. This large format array was designed primarily for ground-based astronomy applications and has sensitivity out to 27μm wavelength.
Update on blocked impurity band detector technology from DRS
Paper 7780A-3 of Conference 7780A
Date: Wednesday, 04 August 2010

Author(s): Henry H. Hogue, Ernest W. Atkins, David B. Reynolds, Michael M. Salcido, Larry C. Dawson, Dale E. Molyneux, Stacy A. Masterjohn, Daniel Okerlund, Mark Muzilla, DRS Sensors & Targeting Systems, Inc. (United States)


The Blocked Impurity Band (BIB) detector technology team at DRS Sensors & Targeting Systems provides BIB detectors, Focal Plane Arrays (FPA), and sensor assemblies for ground, airborne and space applications. These include flight-proven low flux Si:As and Si:Sb FPAs in square formats up to 1024x1024 and high-flux FPA systems for ground-based telescopes and airborne applications. DRS uniquely provides detectors and FPAs in alternate detector materials such as Si:Sb, Si:Ga, Si:P, and Si:B and extension of Si:As BIB technology to number-mode photon counting detectors at visible or mid-infrared wavelengths and to far-infrared wavelengths.
Investigation on pyroelectric and dielectric properties of ceramics
Paper 7780A-10 of Conference 7780A
Date: Thursday, 05 August 2010

Author(s): Ashok K. Batra, Ryan Maxon, Padmaja Guggilla, Mohan D. Aggarwal, M. E. Edwards, Alabama A&M Univ. (United States)


There is substantial interest in detection of infrared radiation using pyroelectric effect. In pyroelectric, a change in the temperature of a material leads to release of electric charge and hence, an electrical potential is established. The materials most widely used at present as a pyroelectric infrared detector are single-crystals of triglycine sulfate (TGS) and lithium tantalite. TGS has several disadvantages, such as instability in a high vacuum environment and its low Curie temperature, which have led to a search for alternative materials. In the present paper, Ferroelectric ceramics have been investigated as possible alternatives to TGS. In this paper dielectric and pyroelectric properties of some ceramics based on modified lead zirconate titanate are presented.
Radiative engineering of nanoantenna arrays for ultrasensitive vibrational spectroscopy of proteins
Paper 7757-65 of Conference 7757
Date: Thursday, 05 August 2010

Author(s): Ronen Adato, Ahmet A. Yanik, Boston Univ. (United States); Jason J. Amsden, David Kaplan, Fiorenzo Omenetto, Tufts Univ. (United States); Mi Kyung Hong, Shyamsunder Erramilli, Hatice Altug, Boston Univ. (United States)


Infrared absorption spectroscopy offers direct access to the vibrational signatures of molecular structure. Although absorption cross sections are nearly 10 orders of magnitude larger than the Raman cross sections, they are small in comparison with those of fluorescent labels. Sensitivity improvements are required in order for the method to be applicable to single molecule/monolayer studies. In this work, we intoduce a collectively enhanced infrared absorption (CEIRA) spectroscopy technique based on radiative engineering of nanoantenna arrays. We show 10^4-10^5 fold enhancements of the amide-I and II backbone signatures of proteins and obtain vibrational fingerprint signals from zeptomole quantities of protein molecules.
In vivo imaging by fluorescent carbon nanotubes
Paper 7761-27 of Conference 7761
Date: Sunday, 01 August 2010

Author(s): Donglu Shi, Hoonsung Cho, Christopher Huth, Feng Wang, Wei Wang, Zhongyun Dong, Univ. of Cincinnati (United States); Guokui Liu, Argonne National Lab. (United States); Jie Lian, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (United States); Rodney C. Ewing, Univ. of Michigan (United States)


One of the key challenges of nanotechnology in cancer diagnosis has been the design and development of nanosurface structures with multiple functionalities. Due to complexity of biological systems, these nanostructured materials must have key features, such as the ability to "tune" or control the surface properties. The first step is to treat the surface with specific functional groups such that they attach to specific biological molecules. Second, for diagnosis, the nanoparticle should have a strong fluorescence in the near infrared range for in vivo imaging. Third, certain nanoparticle should have a geometry that allows for storage and release of treatment drugs. Finally, the nanoparticle should be biodegradable in order to avoid toxic effects. Thus far, there have been few attempts to design and produce a nanostructure that meets all of these requirements. A specially designed carbon nanotube (CNT) bio-probe has been developed for use in the early detection of cancer. The key functionalities for biomedical diagnosis are incorporated into the carbon nanotubes. In vivo imaging of live mice was achieved by intravenously injecting quantum dot (QD) conjugated CNT. With near infrared emission around 752 nm, the CNT with surface conjugated QD (CNT-QD) exhibited a strong fluorescence for non-invasive optical in vivo imaging. CNT surface modification was achieved by a plasma polymerization approach that deposited ultra-thin acrylic acid or poly(lactic-co-glycolic) acid films (~3 nm) onto the nanotubes. A significant blue shift of the fluorescence of CdSe/ZnS quantum dots (QD) conjugated with CNT was investigated. The observed Stark shift was due to the local electrostatic field induced by the carboxylic anions on the CNT surface. A theoretical model is developed to evaluate the contribution of the surface charges to the observed spectral shift.
Chalcogenide plasmonic metamaterial switches
Paper 7757-5 of Conference 7757
Date: Sunday, 01 August 2010

Author(s): Zsolt L. Sámson, Jianfa Zhang, Giorgio Adamo, Takashi Uchino, Behrad Gholipour, Kenton Knight, Chung-Che Huang, Univ. of Southampton (United Kingdom); Francesco De Angelis, Fondazione Istituto Italiano di Tecnologia (Italy) and Univ. degli studi Magna Græcia di Catanzaro (Italy); Kevin F. MacDonald, Peter Ashburn, Univ. of Southampton (United Kingdom); Enzo Di Fabrizio, Fondazione Istituto Italiano di Tecnologia (Italy) and Univ. degli studi Magna Græcia di Catanzaro (Italy); Daniel W. Hewak, Nikolay I. Zheludev, Univ. of Southampton (United Kingdom)


The material technology behind rewritable optical disks and the latest generation of electronic memory offers a new broadband switching paradigm for metamaterials. Non-volatile, electrically- or optically-addressed switching devices of sub-wavelength thickness for the visible to mid-infrared range can be created by hybridizing planar metamaterials with functional chalcogenide glass.
The role of molecular photon upconversion in organic photovoltaic devices
Paper 7772-3 of Conference 7772
Date: Sunday, 01 August 2010

Author(s): Andrew J. Ferguson, Matthew T. Lloyd, Dana C. Olson, Garry Rumbles, Andrew G. Norman, National Renewable Energy Lab. (United States); Tanya N. Singh-Rachford, Felix N. Castellano, Bowling Green State Univ. (United States)


The phenomenon of triplet-triplet annihilation-assisted photon upconversion shows promise for efficient upconversion of photons from the red/near-infrared to visible regions of the solar spectrum, providing a means to enhance photocurrent generation in organic photovoltaic devices. We will discuss the role of an upconversion system capable of converting red photons to blue-green photons, based on a platinum-porphyrin triplet sensitizer and a strongly fluorescent anthracene derivative, in a bulk heterojunction photovoltaic device based on a blend of poly(3-hexylthiophene) and [6,6]-phenyl-C61-butyric acid methyl ester.
Gigabit class high-speed indoor optical wireless: system design, challenges and results
Paper 7814-7 of Conference 7814
Date: Monday, 02 August 2010

Author(s): Dominic C. O'Brien, Hoa Le Minh, Grahame E. Faulkner, Univ. of Oxford (United Kingdom); Stefan M. Wolf, Liane Grobe, Juanhi Li, Technische Univ. Ilmenau (Germany); Olivier Bouchet, France Telecom R&D (France)


High-speed optical wireless systems are challenging to implement, due to limitations in available components, and implementation of the necessary high speed electronics. In this paper we report on the development of a gigabit/s class infrared indoor optical wireless system that uses commercially available components. Techniques to estimate receiver sensitivity and its impact on system field of view are outlined, together with other system challenges. Results from the implementation of a demonstration system are also detailed, together with a discussion of how this might scale in the future.
MERTIS: reflective baffle design and manufacturing
Paper 7808-22 of Conference 7808
Date: Monday, 02 August 2010

Author(s): Thomas Zeh, Markus Glier, Stefan Kaiser, Kayser-Threde GmbH (Germany); Gisbert Peter, Ingo Walter, Jörn Helbert, Deutsches Zentrum für Luft- und Raumfahrt e.V. (Germany); Joe Jachlewski, NiCoForm, Inc. (United States); Harald Hiesinger, Westfaelische Wilhelms Univ. (Germany)


Optical instruments for remote sensing applications frequently require measures for reducing the amount of external, unwanted stray light in the optical instrument path. The reflective planet baffle design and manufacturing process for the thermal infrared imaging spectrometer MERTIS onboard of ESA's cornerstone mission BepiColombo to Mercury is presented. The baffle has to reflect the unwanted solar flux and scattered IR radiation, and minimize the heat load on the instrument.
Embedded chemicals detection using multiple frequencies excitation
Paper 7781-40 of Conference 7781
Date: Monday, 02 August 2010

Author(s): Yaohui Gao, Meng-Ku Chen, Shizhuo Yin, The Pennsylvania State Univ. (United States)


In this paper, we present a embedded chemicals detection method using multiple frequencies excitation including microwave and infrared radiation. We demonstrate that faster vapor release from embedded chemicals can be realized through multiple frequencies excitation compared to single frequency excitation. Also, the mechanism of chemical vapor tranportation through sand is discussed.
Extended defects in as-grown CdZnTe
Paper 7805-55 of Conference 7805
Date: Monday, 02 August 2010

Author(s): Lingyan Xu, Brookhaven National Lab. (United States) and Northwestern Polytechnical Univ. (China); Aleksey E. Bolotnikov, Anwar M. Hossain, Ge Yang, Rubi Gul, Giuseppe S. Camarda, Brookhaven National Lab. (United States); Laura Marchini, Brookhaven National Lab. (United States) and IMEM-CNR (Italy); Ki Hyun Kim, Yonggang Cui, Ralph B. James, Brookhaven National Lab. (United States); Yadong Xu, Tao Wang, Wanqi Jie, Northwestern Polytechnical Univ. (China)


We characterized over 10 samples cut from different locations of two CdZnTe (CZT) ingots, one of which was intrinsic while the other was In doped. We employed Infrared (IR) Transmission Microscopy and White Beam X-ray Diffraction Topography (WBXDT) Technology to locate and identify the extended defects. Our experiments seek to ascertain the roles of the distribution of extended defects and the concentration of In dopants on the charge transport properties as revealed by Micron-scale X-ray Mapping. Correlations between the extended defects and charge transport properties will be reported.
The AstroComb Project
Paper 7808-61 of Conference 7808
Date: Monday, 02 August 2010

Author(s): Carlo Baffa, Osservatorio Astrofisico di Arcetri (Italy); Pablo Cancio Pastor, Istituto Nazionale di Ottica Applicata (Italy); Elisabetta Giani, Osservatorio Astrofisico di Arcetri (Italy); Massimo Inguscio, Istituto Nazionale di Ottica Applicata (Italy); Ernesto Oliva, Osservatorio Astrofisico di Arcetri (Italy); Giulia Schettino, Univ. degli Studi di Firenze (Italy); Andrea Tozzi, Osservatorio Astrofisico di Arcetri (Italy)


The field of high resolution infrared spectroscopy is expected to be populated in a short time with new and more capable instruments, which will be able to measure a very large wavelength interval at once with very high resolution and stability. It is of paramount importance to complement them with an equally capable wavelength calibrator. To overcome some of the limits of present day calibrators, we are developing a system based on a comb-laser.
MAKO: a high-performance airborne imaging spectrometer system for the LWIR
Paper 7812-20 of Conference 7812
Date: Tuesday, 03 August 2010

Author(s): David W. Warren, David J. Gutierrez, John A. Hackwell, Steven J. Hansel, Brian P. Kasper, Mazaher G. Sivjee, The Aerospace Corp. (United States)


We report progress on a high-performance, long-wavelength infrared hyperspectral imaging system for airborne research. Based on a f/1.25 Dyson spectrometer and 128x128 arsenic doped silicon blocked impurity band array, this system has significantly higher throughput than previous sensors. An agile pointing capability permits the additional signal to be allocated between improved signal-to-noise and improved area coverage, creating new opportunities to explore LWIR HSI phenomenology.
MAKO: a high-performance airborne imaging spectrometer system for the LWIR
Paper 7786-20 of Conference 7786
Date: Tuesday, 03 August 2010

Author(s): David W. Warren, David J. Gutierrez, John A. Hackwell, Steven J. Hansel, Brian P. Kasper, Mazaher G. Sivjee, The Aerospace Corp. (United States)


We report progress on a high-performance, long-wavelength infrared hyperspectral imaging system for airborne research. Based on a f/1.25 Dyson spectrometer and 128x128 arsenic doped silicon blocked impurity band array, this system has significantly higher throughput than previous sensors. An agile pointing capability permits the additional signal to be allocated between improved signal-to-noise and improved area coverage, creating new opportunities to explore LWIR HSI phenomenology.
Photon counting detectors for astrophysics, biophotonics, and defense
Paper 7780C-52 of Conference 7780C
Date: Wednesday, 04 August 2010

Author(s): Donald F. Figer, Rochester Institute of Technology (United States)


This talk summarizes the needs for quantum-limited photon detectors in a broad range of applications and subfields, including Astrophysics, Biophotonics, and Defense. Particular emphasis is placed on imaging applications that require single photon counting. Rochester Institute of Technology and Lincoln Laboratory have teamed in projects funded by the Moore Foundation and NASA to develop optical and infrared photon counting detectors in megapixel formats. These projects will be described.
Investigation of GaAs photosensitive devices
Paper 7780B-39 of Conference 7780B
Date: Wednesday, 04 August 2010

Author(s): Tina Laperashvili, Orest Kvitsiani, Jano Markhulia, Vladimer Mikelashvili, Institute of Cybernetics (Georgia)


The experimental results obtained from investigation of the optical characteristics of GaAs and GaP semiconductor based devices are presented. Infrared region sensitive detectors were obtained using electrochemical deposition of metals on the semiconductors surface and following heat treatment in inert gas medium. In experiment were used Chokhralsky method grown mono-crystals of (111) and (100) orientation.
Nanosecond pulsed laser deposition of germanium films
Paper 7766-41 of Conference 7766
Date: Wednesday, 04 August 2010

Author(s): Seong Shan Yap, Norwegian Univ. of Science and Technology (Malaysia); Cécile Ladam, SINTEF (Norway); Wee Ong Siew, Multimedia Univ. (Malaysia); Øystein Dahl, SINTEF (Norway); Turid W. Reenaas, Norwegian Univ. of Science and Technology (Norway); Teck Yong Tou, Multimedia Univ. (Malaysia)


In this work, nanosecond-pulsed of from ultra-violet to infrared lasers: KrF (248 nm, 25 ns) and Nd:YAG (1064 nm, 532 nm, 355 nm, 5 ns) were employed for ablation and deposition of germanium films in background pressure of <10-6 Torr. Deposition was carried out at room temperature on Si, GaAs, sapphire and glass. The as-deposited films, characterized by using scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and atomic force microscopy (AFM), consists of nano to micron-sized droplets on nanostructured film. The dependence of films properties on laser wavelengths and fluence is discussed.
IR frequencies experimental investigation about grating properties of quasi-zero index materials
Paper 7781-3 of Conference 7781
Date: Sunday, 01 August 2010

Author(s): Principia Dardano, Ivo Rendina, Istituto per la Microelettronica e Microsistemi (Italy); Stefano Cabrini, Allan Chang, Lawrence Berkeley National Lab. (United States); Vito Mocella, Istituto per la Microelettronica e Microsistemi (Italy)


Self-collimating Photonic Crystals based quasi-zero index material are the object of an experimental investigation by exploring his grating properties at infrared frequencies. Indeed through a diffractometric method, it is possible a precise measure of the quasi-zero index material grating parameters, as the grating lattice parameter, the dispersion angle Δθ (at fixed wavelength) and the spectral dispersion (at fixed angle). In this way the small size of Δθ = 0.06° as well as the small spectra dispersion Δλ = 3nm provides to a experimental demonstration of the long propagating beam and at least the strong collimation


Active control of near-IR metamaterials utilizing stretchable elastomeric polymers and phase-transition materials
Paper 7754-3 of Conference 7754
Date: Sunday, 01 August 2010

Author(s): Koray Aydin, Imogen M. Pryce, Yousif A. Kelaita, Harry A. Atwater, Jr., California Institute of Technology (United States)


We demonstrate the first mechanically tunable metamaterial in the near infrared, where modifying the distance between coupled resonator elements changes the resonance frequency. We show that the resonant peak wavelength can be shifted by up to 350 nm, a full linewidth shift around 4 µm. Here we extend our first reports on planar hybrid Ag/VO2 SRR bi-layers to the use of laterally patterned VO2 hybrid nanostructures. Amplitude modulation (~%30) and resonance frequency tuning (~110 nm) can be achieved in planar Ag/VO2 hybrid SRRs the 1-4 µm wavelength range, and results for laterally-patterned structures will be discussed.
Improvement of the use of MSG and GOES data in the NCEP GDAS
Paper 7811-3 of Conference 7811
Date: Sunday, 01 August 2010

Author(s): Tong Zhu, Fuzhong Weng, Haixia Liu, John Derber, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (United States)


Infrared (IR) observations from SEVIRI on board Meteosat Second Generation (MSG)-2 satellite are assimilated into NCEP global data assimilation system (GDAS). The Community Radiative Transfer Model (CRTM) is used as observation operator for the assimilation of SEVIRI radiance observations. Preliminary results show that inclusions of the SEVIRI radiances at water vapor channels (6.25 and 7.35 micron) and CO2 channel (13.4 micron) in GFS produced noticeably positive impacts on the seven-day forecasts. Assimilation of other five SEVIRI IR window channels in GFS reduces the positive impact. Further studies are being carried out to improve the effective assimilation of SEVIRI IR window channels radiances.
Dielectric optical antenna transmitters and receivers
Paper 7785-5 of Conference 7785
Date: Sunday, 01 August 2010

Author(s): Jon A. Schuller, Columbia Univ. (United States)


Optical antennas are critical components in nanophotonics research due to their unparalleled ability to concentrate electromagnetic energy into nanoscale volumes. Researchers typically construct such antennas from wavelength-size metallic structures. However, researchers have recently exploited the scattering resonances of high-permittivity particles to realize all-dielectric optical antennas, emitters, photodetectors, and metamaterials. Here, we experimentally and theoretically characterize the resonant modes of subwavelength rod-shaped dielectric particles and demonstrate their use as novel light emitters (transmitters) and photodetectors (receivers). Using a variety of materials systems, dielectric optical antennas may impact a variety of photonic technologies throughout the visible and infrared frequency regime.
Detectors of terahertz radiation based on Pb1-xSnxTe(In)
Paper 7763-7 of Conference 7763
Date: Sunday, 01 August 2010

Author(s): Dmitry R. Khokhlov, Lomonosov Moscow State Univ. (Russian Federation)


Doping of the lead telluride and related alloys with the group III impurities results in appearance of the unique physical features of a material, such as persistent photoresponse, enhanced responsive quantum efficiency (up to 100 photoelectrons/incident photon), radiation hardness and many others. We present the physical principles of operation of the photodetecting devices based on the group III-doped IV-VI including the possibilities of a fast quenching of the persistent photoresponse, construction of the focal-plane array, new readout technique, and others. The advantages of infrared photodetecting systems based on the group III-doped IV-VI in comparison with the modern photodetectors are summarized.
Single photon emission and detection at the nanoscale
Paper 7808-62 of Conference 7808
Date: Sunday, 01 August 2010

Author(s): Michael E. Reimer, M. P. van Kouwen, M. Hocevar, M. Barkelid, Technische Univ. Delft (Netherlands); R. Algra, E. Bakkers, Philips Research Nederland B.V. (Netherlands); M. T. Björk, Heike Riel, IBM Zürich Research Lab. (Switzerland); L. P. Kouwenhoven, Valery Zwiller, Technische Univ. Delft (Netherlands)


We report recent progress towards single photon emission and detection in the near infrared based on semiconductor nanowires. Nanowires are highly versatile since the composition, size, position and doping of a single nanowire can be precisely controlled with unprecedented freedom, which directly affects the emission and detection properties of single nanowires. In addition, nanowires are not limited by strain, thus allowing more complex semiconductor materials to be combined compared to conventional semiconductor heterostructure growth. In this talk, we first study the optical properties of a single InAsP quantum dot embedded in a single InP nanowire with the aim of producing a single photon source electrically. In the second part of the talk, we discuss single photon detection based on a single Si nanowire comprising of a p-doped, intrinsic, and n-doped section (p-i-n photodiode).
Periodic arrays of ridge apertures as a high efficiency coupler for photovoltaic applications
Paper 7772-7 of Conference 7772
Date: Sunday, 01 August 2010

Author(s): Edward C. Kinzel, Xianfan Xu, Purdue Univ. (United States)


Weak absorption of light near the band gap is one limiting factor on the efficiency of photovoltaics. This is particularly true for thin-film solar cells because the shot optical path lengths and limited options for texturing the front and back surfaces. Scattering light laterally is one way to increase the optical path length to increase the chance that a given low energy photon is absorbed. We investigate the use of a periodic array of bowtie apertures to couple incident light to a parallel plate waveguide mode supported between two conductors. We show that up to 70% of incident near-infrared light can be coupled and explain the physical phenomena. This architecture has potential for forming the back conductor in multi-junction solar cells.
Improved performance of quantum dot solar cells via light scattering into waveguide modes
Paper 7772-8 of Conference 7772
Date: Sunday, 01 August 2010

Author(s): Claiborne O. McPheeters, The Univ. of Texas at Austin (United States); Cory J. Hill, Jet Propulsion Lab. (United States); Dongzhi Hu, Univ. Karlsruhe (Germany); Swee H. Lim, Arizona State Univ. (United States); Daniel Derkacs, Spire Semiconductor, LLC (United States); David Z. Ting, Jet Propulsion Lab. (United States); Daniel M. Schaadt, Univ. Karlsruhe (Germany); Sarath D. Gunapala, Jet Propulsion Lab. (United States); Edward T. Yu, Univ. of Texas at Austin (United States)


We report studies of quantum dot (QD) solar cells (SCs) with performance enhancement via nanoparticle scattering of radiation into waveguide modes of the device structure. Zero-bias photocurrent spectra reveal that QDs successfully extend absorption to longer infrared wavelengths relative to quantum wells of the same average composition. Surface-deposited SiO2 or gold nanoparticles improve the short-circuit current density of QDSCs by up to 16% relative to bare devices. To further improve the performance of quantum well- and QDSCs, we are investigating ultrathin devices on the order of 1 micron thick, which exhibit significantly improved waveguide coupling, as well as various QD densities.
Resonant semiconductor nanowire antenna near-IR photodetectors
Paper 7808-14 of Conference 7808
Date: Sunday, 01 August 2010

Author(s): Linyou Cao, Stanford Univ. (United States)


On-chip integrated optoelectronics devices are critical for high-throughput data processing, management and communication. Photodetectors play a key role as interfaces between photonics and electronics, but are plagued by a fundamental efficiency-speed tradeoff. Here, we demonstrate that germanium nanowires can be used to overcome these limitations for high performance photodetection in near infrared regime. The detector capitalizes on optical antenna effects to dramatically enhance the photoresponse and to enable wavelength and polarization selectivity. The use of resonant photonic nanostructures for near-IR photodetection represents a significant step towards realizing integrated on-chip communication, and manifests a new paradigm for developing miniaturized optoelectronics components.
Real-time SWIR hyperspectral imaging with polarimetric capability
Paper 7812-3 of Conference 7812
Date: Monday, 02 August 2010

Author(s): Gerald Wong, Roger Pilkington, SELEX Galileo Ltd. (United Kingdom); Andrew R. Harvey, Heriot-Watt Univ. (United Kingdom); Rick Rickman, Waterfall Solutions Ltd. (United Kingdom)


The novel sensor outlined within this paper enables snapshot hyperspectral imaging. The Near-Infrared Image Replicating Imaging Spectrometer (N-IRIS) operates without any rejection in polarised light. Additional benefits include compactness, robustness, no-moving-parts operation, lower processing overheads and resource needs. Dual polarimetric-spectral imaging is also possible due to its inherent design, which offers additional discrimination and increased optical throughput. This paper also describes the results from detection algorithms implemented on COTS hardware to exploit the temporal dimension in real-time operation. The synergy with N-IRIS has achieved anomaly detection at video frame-rates, within both ground-based datasets and AVRIS imagery with simulated embedded targets.
Wireless optical network (WON) for a home network
Paper 7814-5 of Conference 7814
Date: Monday, 02 August 2010

Author(s): Olivier Bouchet, France Telecom R&D (France); Joachim W. Walewski, Siemens AG (Germany); Pascal Porcon, France Telecom R&D (France); Eric Gueutier, Apside Groupe (France); Dominic C. O'Brien, Grahame E. Faulkner, Hoa Le Minh, Univ. of Oxford (United Kingdom)


Indoor optical wireless communications have been investigated for a few decades, but have not been widely studied as a Wireless Optical Network (WON). Point to Point optical communications in outdoor environments are well established, providing Gbps over ranges of several hundred meters. However, WON is more challenging than their outdoor counterparts. The scope of this paper is to present two prototypes developed during a European collaborative project. The first prototype proposes an InfraRed Communication (IRC) based on Giga Ethernet and the second prototype proposes a 100 Mbps Visible Light Communication (VLC). The document will present these prototypes characteristics with experimentation results.
DLC/Si multilayer mirrors for EUV radiation
Paper 7802-9 of Conference 7802
Date: Monday, 02 August 2010

Author(s): Peter Gawlitza, Stefan Braun, Andreas Leson, Fraunhofer-Institut für Werkstoff- und Strahltechnik (Germany); Wouter A. Soer, Martin J. Jak, Philips Research Nederland B.V. (Netherlands); Vadim Y. Banine, ASML Netherlands B.V. (Netherlands)


Future high power EUV tools in next generation lithography systems will be operated with CO2 LPP sources. Some Kilowatts of laser pulse power at 10.6 µm wavelength are partially converted into EUV radiation but also into more than 95% out-of-band energy. Spectral filtering and transportation of unwanted radiation out of the EUV optical system is absolutely necessary for heat load reduction, especially for the thermally sensitive masks and projection optics. We present a new type of spectral EUV filter based on a DLC/Si multilayer mirror that is nearly transparent for infrared radiation (IR) but highly reflective at 13.5 nm (DLC - diamond-like carbon). We deposited DLC/Si multilayers by IBSD with 40 and 60 periods showing EUV reflectances of about 42 % and 50 %, respectively. Combining IR antireflective and EUV coatings, first prototype mirrors have been fabricated with an EUV reflectance of 42.5 % and IR reflectance of about 4.4 % at the same time.
The WISE image quality error budget
Paper 7796-6 of Conference 7796
Date: Monday, 02 August 2010

Author(s): Martha Kendall, Ball Aerospace & Technologies Corp. (United States); Valerie G. Duval, Jet Propulsion Lab. (United States); Roy W. Esplin, Space Dynamics Lab. (United States); Ingolf H. Heinrichsen, Jet Propulsion Lab. (United States); Mark F. Larsen, Space Dynamics Lab. (United States); Mark Shannon, Ball Aerospace & Technologies Corp. (United States); Edward L. Wright, Univ. of California, Los Angeles (United States)


Is it possible to be too bright that you become blind to flaws in image quality requirements? Sometimes asking a few "dumb" questions can help clear up misunderstandings in requirement flowdown between spacecraft instrument control stability and image processing needs. The Wide-Field Infrared Survey Explorer (WISE) mission launched in December of 2009 could have used a few "dummies" to ask the "geniuses" to explain what they really needed. Such is the lesson learned with the WISE spacecraft ADCS jitter control and the image data reductions needs. The spacecraft manifests jitter in numerous ways and if the data reduction folks are not aware of all of them then the data reduction quality can be severely affected. While the spacecraft was meeting the "jitter" requirement it was allocated, the drift rate variation need was not being met. The "dumb" question finally came up regarding this need about a year before launch and after the eureka-moment, an adjustment was made to the spacecraft ADCS control. WISE is meeting all image quality requirements on-orbit thanks to the "dumb" question late in the game.
The WISE telescope and scanner: design choices and hardware results
Paper 7796-8 of Conference 7796
Date: Monday, 02 August 2010

Author(s): Deepak Sampath, Mark Schwalm, Alan D. Akerstrom, Mark Barry, James J. Guregian, Virginia Ugolini, L-3 Communications SSG-Tinsley (United States)


L-3 Integrated Optical Systems/SSG designed and built the telescope, aft imager, and scanner for the Widefield Infrared Survey Explorer (WISE) under subcontract to Utah State University/Space Dynamics Laboratory. The WISE mission and collection scheme imparted several driving requirements on the telescope and scanner, including the need for low cost implementation, <11 Kelvin operation, and the need to back-scan by half a degree during detector integration in order to freeze the line of sight on the sky as the spacecraft pitched in orbit. These requirements led to several unique design and implementation choices for the telescope and scanner. In this paper we highlight several of those design choices as well as lessons learned from the telescope and scanner design, fabrication, and test.
On the pursuit of a common growth window for embedded indium-rich group III-nitride heterostructures
Paper 7784-3 of Conference 7784
Date: Monday, 02 August 2010

Author(s): Nikolaus Dietz, Ramazan Atalay, Max Buegler, Sampath Gamage, Indika Senevirathna, Jielei Wang, Georgia State Univ. (United States)


Ternary InGaN alloys have great potentials for device structures that can operate from infrared to ultra-violet spectral regime. At present, the integration of InGaN heterostructures remains a challenge due to encountered temperature gaps. A pathway to reduce the growth temperature differences is to explore the pressure dependent growth surface stabilization. This contribution will provide a brief history on high-pressure chemical vapor deposition (HPCVD), discuss the engineering tools needed to control gas phase and growth surface chemistry, and provides results for InGaN epilayers grown by HPCVD. An assessment will be given on the pursuit of a common group III-nitride process window.
WISE focal plane module: lessons learned in light of success
Paper 7796-9 of Conference 7796
Date: Monday, 02 August 2010

Author(s): Stacy Masterjohn, Henry H. Hogue, Mark Muzilla, Steven G. Rector, Reed B. Mattson, DRS Sensors & Targeting Systems, Inc. (United States)


DRS Sensors & Targeting Systems, under contract to the Space Dynamics Laboratory of Utah State University, provided the focal plane detector system for NASA's Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer (WISE). The focal plane detector system consists of two mercury cadmium telluride (MCT) focal plane module assemblies (FPMAs), two arsenic doped silicon (Si:As) Blocked Impurity Band (BIB) FPMAs, electronics to drive the FPMAs and report digital data from them, and the cryogenic and ambient temperature cabling that connect the FPMAs and electronics. The WISE Satellite was launched in late 2009 and has been a very rewarding success. In light of the recent success on orbit, there were many challenges and hurdles the DRS team had to overcome in order to guarantee the ultimate success of the instrument. This report highlights a few of the challenges that the team overcame in hopes that the information can be made available to the astronomy community for future use.
Accelerated atmospheric corrosion testing of electroplated gold mirror coatings
Paper 7786-20 of Conference 7786
Date: Monday, 02 August 2010

Author(s): Chung-Tse Chu, D. R. Alaan, David P. Taylor, The Aerospace Corp. (United States)


Gold-coated mirrors are widely used in infrared. These mirrors are often made of aluminum or beryllium substrates with polished nickel undercoat. Atmospheric corrosion of gold-coated electrical connectors and contacts was a well-known problem in the electronic industry and was studied extensively. However, there is limited literature data that correlates atmospheric corrosion to the reflectivity of gold mirror coatings. In this paper, we discuss the corrosion behavior of electroplated gold-coated mirror coupons exposed to a mixed-flowing-gas (MFG) environment. Depending on the gold coating thickness, pore corrosion started to appear on samples after about 200 hours of exposure. The corrosion caused the mirror reflectance to decline, first in the visible and then extended into the IR region, as the corrosion progressed and the size of the corrosion features increased.
Future VIIRS enhancements for the Joint Polar System
Paper 7813-9 of Conference 7813
Date: Monday, 02 August 2010

Author(s): Jeff Puschell, Raytheon Space & Airborne Systems (United States)


The Visible/Infrared Imager Radiometer Suite (VIIRS) is the next-generation imaging spectroradiometer for the future integrated operational polar-orbiting environmental satellite system. VIIRS Flight unit 1 (F1) was delivered in January 2010. Measured performance shows that VIIRS F1 is ready to make important data contributions for weather and science. Starting with the NPOESS Preparatory Project, VIIRS replaces and improves upon three different sensors operating today with a single instrument built into an adaptable design architecture: AVHRR onboard NPOESS POES and EUMETSAT Polar System Metop; MODIS onboard NASA's Terra and Aqua; and OLS onboard DMSP. Like the Hubble Space Telescope, the flexible VIIRS architecture can be adapted and enhanced to respond to a wide range of requirements and to incorporate new technology as it becomes available.
The WISE beamsplitter assembly
Paper 7796-10 of Conference 7796
Date: Monday, 02 August 2010

Author(s): Roy W. Esplin, Duane Miles, David McLain, Harri Latvakoski, Mark F. Larsen, Space Dynamics Lab. (United States); Mark A. Kahan, Optical Research Associates (United States)


The design, fabrication and testing of the Beamsplitter Assembly (BSA) of the Wide Field Infrared Survey Explorer (WISE) instrument are discussed in this paper. The BSA splits the optical output beam of the WISE telescope into 4 spectral wavelength bands; 2.8-3.8, 4.1-5.2, 7.5-16.5, and 20-26 µm. Spectral properties of the WISE, dichroic beamsplitters, filters and telescope are presented. The BSA provides the means for focusing the WISE instrument. The method used to focus the WISE instrument is also discussed in this paper. Lessons learned that hopefully will be of help to future space programs are also presented.
Reduction and calibration of FIRST data from the RHUBC-II campaign
Paper 7808-28 of Conference 7808
Date: Monday, 02 August 2010

Author(s): Erik Syrstad, Space Dynamics Lab. (United States)


During the second Radiative Heating of Underexplored Bands Campaign (RHUBC-II), spectrally resolved radiance data from 6-100 microns was obtained with the Far Infrared Spectroscopy of the Troposphere (FIRST) instrument. FIRST measured water vapor absorption features in the upper troposphere for reduction of errors in radiative transfer codes. Reduction of FIRST data will focus on several specific days, with emphasis on data collected during periods of extremely low precipitable water vapor. Calibration of FIRST data relies on field measurements of the radiance of ambient and warm blackbodies, and must account for absorption features associated with the broadband polypropylene beamsplitter.
First imaging Fourier-transform spectral measurements of detonation in an internal combustion engine
Paper 7812-16 of Conference 7812
Date: Monday, 02 August 2010

Author(s): Kevin C. Gross, Air Force Institute of Technology (United States); Allen R. White, Rebecca DeVasher, Stephen Sakai, Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology (United States); Glen P. Perram, Air Force Institute of Technology (United States)


The Telops midwave imaging Fourier-transform spectrometer observed repeated detonations in an ethanol-powered internal combustion (IC) engine. The IC combustion cylinder is made from sapphire permitting observation in the visible and infrared. The IFTS imaged the combustion cylinder on a 64x32 pixel array. More than 50,000 interferograms were collected with moderate spectral (36/cm) and temporal resolution (16 Hz). Engine speed was varied between 600-1200 RPM to de-correlate the observation time scale from the occurrence of detonations. A method is devised to process the ensemble of interferograms so that the time history of the combustion spectrum can be recovered.
Quantum dots as handles for optical manipulation
Paper 7762-26 of Conference 7762
Date: Monday, 02 August 2010

Author(s): Liselotte Jauffred, Lene B. Oddershede, Univ. of Copenhagen (Denmark)


Individual colloidal quantum dots can be optically trapped and manipulated by a single infrared laser beam operated a low laser powers [Jauffred et al., Nano Lett. 2008 (10)] with a trapping strength proportional to 10-4 pN/nm. We report that diverse quantum dots have identical trapping capabilities. Furthermore, we show that the trapping laser light can also act as a source for two-photon excitation of the quantum dots, thus eliminating the demand for an excitation light source in addition to the trapping laser beam. In addition, we report the advantages of using quantum dots as reporter particle in tethered particle method assays. The small size of the quantum dot ensures that it's tracked Brownian motion is dominated by the configurations of the tether and not the reporter particle itself.
A high-accuracy blackbody for CLARREO
Paper 7808-31 of Conference 7808
Date: Monday, 02 August 2010

Author(s): Harri M. Latvakoski, Michael Watson, Shane Topham, Deron Scott, Michael Wojcik, Gail E. Bingham, Utah State Univ. (United States)


The NASA climate science mission CLARREO, which is to measure Earth's emitted spectral radiance from orbit for 5 years, has an absolute accuracy requirement of 0.1 K (3σ) at 220 K over most of the thermal infrared. To meet this requirement, CLARREO needs highly accurate on-board blackbodies which remain accurate over the life of the mission. Space Dynamics Laboratory is developing a prototype blackbody that demonstrates the ability to meet the needs of CLARREO. We expect the CLARREO prototype to have emissivity of ~0.9999 from 1.5 to 50 μm, temperature uncertainties of ~25 mK (3σ), and radiance uncertainties of ~7 mK due to temperature gradients.
Calibration support for NPP VIIRS SDR assessment
Paper 7807-47 of Conference 7807
Date: Monday, 02 August 2010

Author(s): Kwo-Fu Chiang, Sigma Space Corp. (United States); Mathew R. Schwaller, Xiaoxiong Xiong, NASA Goddard Space Flight Ctr. (United States)


The Visible Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite (VIIRS) on-board the satellite of the National Polar-orbiting Operational Environmental Satellite System (NPOESS) Preparatory Project (NPP) is a key instrument that provides continuity of global observations of land, ocean, cloud, and atmospheric parameters between current Earth Observing System (EOS) and future NPOESS missions. This paper describes VIIRS on-orbit radiometric calibration and characterization activities supported by the NPP Instrument Calibration Support Element (NICSE), which is part of the Science Data Segment (SDS) within the NASA NPP program. This paper focuses on the capability of NICSE to independently assess and verify the performance of the sensor and the quality of VIIRS Sensor Data Records (SDRs).
Near field imaging of a plasmon photonic crystal patterned on the facet of a quantum cascade laser
Paper 7757-129 of Conference 7757
Date: Monday, 02 August 2010

Author(s): Dibyendu Dey, Ryan Gelfand, John Kohoutek, Alireza Bonakdar, Hooman Mohseni, Northwestern Univ. (United States)


We present a novel device, which combines a plasmon-polariton crystal (PPC) structure with edge emitting mid infrared Quantum cascade laser (QCL). The structure has been fabricated by coating the facet of QCL and further patterned using focused ion beam milling. Scanning optical microscopic (NSOM) technique has been used to image the effect of surface plasmon polariton on the optical mode of the laser. By studying the near field we can probe the spectral properties of our devices with a very controlled spatial resolution. Unlike photonic crystals and micro-ring resonators, this structure can produce a very large Purcell constant without sacrificing the optical bandwidth.
Optimization design of broadband mid-IR grating
Paper 7787-30 of Conference 7787
Date: Monday, 02 August 2010

Author(s): Shuwei Fan, Xi'an Jiaotong Univ. (China)


The broadband mid-IR grating is required in the infrared spectrophotometer to keep the instrument compact. However, an instrument ,such as the IR-G type and IR-G type spectrophotometer, always needs to be equipped with several gratings due to the limited spectrum of the commonly used grating. In this paper the optimization design of a type of broadband grating is studied. The rigorous coupled wave analysis (RCWA) was used to analyze the grating diffraction efficiency (GRE) properties in this paper. Firstly, the GRE of the traditional broadband dual-blaze grating is analyzed by RCWA. Then a simple structure grating can be obtained through an optimization method to the dual-blaze grating. The optimization design result demonstrates this simple structure grating is with broadband spectrum and more easily to produce than the dual-blaze gratings.

The multi-spectral imager onboard the EarthCARE spacecraft
Paper 7808-39 of Conference 7808
Date: Tuesday, 03 August 2010

Author(s): Abelardo Perez-Albinana, Alain Lefebvre, Robert Gelsthorpe, European Space Research and Technology Ctr. (Netherlands); Erich Weih, Klaus-Werner Kruse, Ralf Muenzenmayer, EADS Astrium GmbH (Germany); Guy Baister, Mark Chang, Surrey Satellite Technology Ltd. (United Kingdom)


The European Space Agency is currently developing, in co-operation with the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency the EarthCARE satellite with the basic objective of improving the understanding of the cloud-aerosols-radiation interactions within the Earth's atmosphere. The payload of the EarthCARE satellite consists of a Cloud Profiling Radar (CPR), a Backscatter Lidar (ATLID), a Broadband Radiometer (BBR), and a Multi-spectral Imager (MSI). The MSI instrument will provide images of the earth in 7 spectral bands in the visible and infrared parts of the spectrum, with a spatial ground resolution of 500 m and an image width on the ground of 150 km. This paper will provide a description of the MSI instrument design and its expected performance.
Irradiation of hydrophobic coating materials by gamma rays: space applications
Paper 7817-8 of Conference 7817
Date: Tuesday, 03 August 2010

Author(s): Edward W. Taylor, International Photonics Consultants, Inc. (United States); Ronald G. Pirich, John D. Weir, Dennis Leyble, Northrop Grumman Aerospace Systems (United States)


Investigation of hydrophobic coatings applied to a variety of surfaces for passive removal of bacteria, water, fog, dust and other unwanted natural terrestrial environments is rapidly advancing. Studies are also underway to investigate hydrophobic-hydrophilic coatings for removal of space and man-made contaminants. Smart-hydrophobic coatings and structures to function as self- cleaning agents is important in applications such as terrestrial optical coverings and protective windows for photonic components, solar cells as well as infrared sensors, telescopes and solar cells used in military and commercial high altitude and space applications. We will discuss the radiation resistance of hydrophobic-hydrophilic materials and report on preliminary gamma-ray irradiations studies conducted to simulate the effects of space radiation-induced total ionizing dose on several promising hydrophobic coatings having potential for Lunar, interplanetary and exploratory space mission applications.
Preliminary results of in-orbit radiometric calibration and characterization of the Geostationary Ocean Color Imager
Paper 7807-11 of Conference 7807
Date: Tuesday, 03 August 2010

Author(s): Seongick Cho, Yu-Hwan Ahn, Hee-Jeong Han, Joo-Hyung Ryu, Korea Ocean Research and Development Institute (Korea, Republic of)


Geostationary Ocean Color Imager (GOCI) is the one of the three main payloads in Communication, Ocean and Meteorological Satellite(COMS) and planned to be launched at Kourou Space Center in French Guiana by Ariane 5 Launch Vehicle in April 2010. As the world's 1st ocean color observation satellite in geostationary orbit, the GOCI has been developed with eight visible-to-near-infrared bands, a 500m×500m pixel resolution. The GOCI coverage area is the 2,500km×2,500km centered at 36˚N and 130˚E, and the GOCI planned to observe the whole coverage area by every hour with 8 times per day. The GOCI in-orbit calibration method is the solar calibration. In order to monitor the degradation of transmittance of solar diffuser, 2nd diffuser is also equipped in the GOCI. In this paper, we present the preliminary characterization result of GOCI in-orbit solar calibration operated at in-orbit test period.
Study on the plant canopy using MCI
Paper 7809-9 of Conference 7809
Date: Tuesday, 03 August 2010

Author(s): Ling Zhu, Beijing Normal Univ. (China); Keqin Zhou, Ruoming Shi, Beijing Univ. of Civil Engineering and Architecture (China)


With combination of stereo photogrammetry and NIR camera, a system named MCI (mutispectrum canopy imager) is designed to acquire the vegetation structure parameters, such as LAI, 3D shape of canopy and tree diameter at breast height (DBH) etc. MCI include two visible band digital camera and a near infrared band digital camera as well as components which are use to set the cameras at specified zenith and azimuth angle. The two band photos acquired by MCI permit identification of foliage, branch area, clouds and sky. The classified image is integrated with the 3D model of plant canopy to get the parameters needed.
Analysis of AIRS and IASI system performance under cloudy conditions
Paper 7807-19 of Conference 7807
Date: Tuesday, 03 August 2010

Author(s): Hartmut H. Aumann, Jet Propulsion Lab. (United States); Larrabee Strow, Univ. of Maryland, Baltimore County (United States)


The radiometric and spectral system performance of space-borne infrared radiometers is typically analyzed under strictly cloud-free, spatially uniform and warm conditions, with the assumption that the observed performance applies to the full dynamic range under clear and cloudy conditions and that random noise cancels for the evaluation of the radiometric accuracy. We use two years of AIRS L1b and IASI L1c data, from May 2007 through May 2009, from random nadir spectra and from Simultaneous Nadir Overpasses (SNO) to evaluate the AIRS and IASI system performance under a wide range of cloudy conditions. The AIRS and IASI radiometric performance based on the mean of large numbers of observation is comparable and agrees within 200 mK over a wide range of temperatures, but there are significant and unexpected differences in the magnitude and the character of the noise. AIRS was launched on the EOS Aqua in May 2002, IASI was launched on the Metop in October 2006.
Novel fast catadioptric objective with wide field of view
Paper 7787-3 of Conference 7787
Date: Wednesday, 04 August 2010

Author(s): Fernando Muñoz, Light Prescriptions Innovators Europe, S. L. (Spain); José M. Infante, Indra (Spain) and Indra Sistemas (Spain); Pablo Benítez, Juan C. Miñano, Lin Wang, Univ. Politécnica de Madrid (Spain); Juan F. Vilaplana, Light Prescriptions Innovators Europe, S. L. (Spain); Guillermo Biot, Univ. Politécnica de Madrid (Spain); Marta C. de la Fuente, Indra (Spain)


We present a fast catadioptric objective with a wide field of view (125ºx96º) designed for a microbolometer detector with 640x480 pixels and 25 microns pixel pitch, that covers the infrared band between 7-14 microns. The design procedure has started with an SMS-2D design, which, when adapted to imaging optics, can provide rotationally symmetric non-spherical solutions that are close enough to the final solution as a starting point for a numerical optimisation process. The final design presented here resembles a modified Schwarzschild configuration. It meets the requisites, is compact and only uses three elements: two aspherical mirrors and one aspherical lens.
Aerosol Polarimeter Sensor (APS) contamination control requirements and implementation
Paper 7794-5 of Conference 7794
Date: Wednesday, 04 August 2010

Author(s): Jonathan P. Elders, Raytheon Space & Airborne Systems (United States)


The Aerosol Polarimetery Sensor (APS) is a nadir viewing, along-track observing electro-optical polarimeter measuring earth and atmosphere scene spectral radiance in the visible (VIS) to short wave infrared (SWIR) spectrum. APS performance is degraded by light scatter, transmission, or reflectance changes caused by contamination. Molecular films scatter and degrade spectrally selective absorptions and reflectances. At short wavelengths, molecular films change polarization. The presentation discusses the Raytheon contamination control implementation program to ensure the APS sensor complies with cleanliness requirements. Representative cleanliness monitoring results and lessons learned from the sensor integrated and tested at Space and Airborne Systems El Segundo and Santa Barbara Remote Sensing (SBRS) are presented.
Field Imaging Spectrometer System development and its applications
Paper 7807-25 of Conference 7807
Date: Wednesday, 04 August 2010

Author(s): Lifu Zhang, Jinnian Wang, Junyong Fang, Lanfen Zheng, Qingxi Tong, Institute of Remote Sensing Applications (China); Yongqi Xue, Shanghai Institute of Technical Physics (China)


we have developed a Field Imaging Spectrometer System (FISS) wavelength ranging from 400 to 850nm(wavelength covered on the short-wave infrared range is under development), with 1-nm sampling interval, and 5-nm FWHM, which can be widely used for the aluation of the new developed model and algorithm. This paper discribed the development of the FISS, the imaging data preprocessing, data calibration, and the spectra restoration method, as well as the application foreground expectation of FISS. Primarily analytic results shows that the FISS can be used for many areas such as the precision agriculture, forest model develop, biochemical components quantitative retrieval of vegation, and the new airone and satellite sensor assessment.
Optical material characterization through BSDF measurement and analysis
Paper 7792-39 of Conference 7792
Date: Wednesday, 04 August 2010

Author(s): Andrea M. Wyant, David M. Brown, Daniel V. Hahn, Michael E. Thomas, Kevin C. Baldwin, The Johns Hopkins Univ. (United States)


The optical scattering signature and the absorbance of a material are of interest in a variety of engineering applications, particularly for those pertaining to optical remote sensing. The John Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory has developed an experimental capability to measure in-plane and out-of-plane bidirectional scattering distribution functions to retrieve optical properties of materials. These measurements are supported at high angular resolution with wavelengths that span the ultra-violet to the long-wave infrared. Models have been developed to fit lambertian, diffuse, near specular, and specular scattering at a range of incident angles. Useful material properties can then be determined through analysis of the modeled BSDF.
Nanophotonic interactions of resonant Cesium atoms and 3D opal photonic
Paper 7756-28 of Conference 7756
Date: Wednesday, 04 August 2010

Author(s): Pepijn W. H. Pinkse, Philip J. Harding, Allard P. Mosk, Willem L. Vos, Univ. Twente (Netherlands)


We have introduced hot Cs vapor in a silica opal photonic crystal to pursue novel nanophotonic effects. Compared to dye and quantum dots, alkali atoms are better understood with strong and very narrow resonances / = 10^7! With increasing temperature, we observe shifts of the opals reflectivity peak of >20% due to reduction of the silica. This shift tunes the photonic gaps relative to the near-infrared Cs D1 transition. Simultaneously, the Cs resonances undergo dramatic changes in lineshape, strength, and off-resonance reflectivity. A transfer-matrix model including the dispersion and absorption of Cs hyperfine transitions matches our results very well.
Spontaneous emission control with photonic band gap crystals
Paper 7756-30 of Conference 7756
Date: Wednesday, 04 August 2010

Author(s): Willem L. Vos, M. D. Leistikow, B. H. Husken, Univ. Twente (Netherlands); A. Femius Koenderink, FOM Institute for Atomic and Molecular Physics (Netherlands)


In nanophotonics, much effort is directed at controlling the spontaneous emission rate of light sources with tailored nanostructures. Of great interest are 3D photonic crystals with a band gap. Here the emission rate is will vanish, but this has never been observed to date. Therefore, we pursue silicon photonic crystals made with newly developed nanofabrication methods. As light sources we study infrared quantum dots that emit in the Si transparency range. We observe intriguing features in the emission spectra, and dramatic changes in spontaneous emission rates. We will compare our results to theoretical models.
Optical and structural properties of InGaN epilayers
Paper 7784-32 of Conference 7784
Date: Wednesday, 04 August 2010

Author(s): Ramazan Atalay, Max Buegler, Sampath Gamage, Indika Senevirathna, Jielei Wang, Georgia State Univ. (United States); Ronny Kirste, Technische Univ. Berlin (Germany); Tim Xu, Muhammad Jamil, Georgia Institute of Technology (United States); Ian Ferguson, The Univ. of North Carolina at Charlotte (United States); Axel Hoffmann, Technische Univ. Berlin (Germany); Unil A. G. Perera, Nikolaus Dietz, Georgia State Univ. (United States)


The InGaN alloy system has potential for high efficiency solar energy conversion and advanced optoelectronic applications. GaInN/InGaN heterostructures can be engineered to be responsive from UV to IR wavelength regime. This contribution focuses on the structural and optical characterization of InGaN layers and heterostructures grown by 'high-pressure chemical vapor deposition' (HPCVD), a growth technique enabling elevated temperatures using 15 to 20 bar nitrogen overpressure in order to suppress thermal disassociation of InGaN layers. We will present the structural and optical analysis of InGaN layers studied by x-ray diffraction, Raman spectroscopy, infrared reflectance, and optical transmission spectroscopy.
Ultrasensitive solution processed polymer photodetectors
Paper 7779-6 of Conference 7779
Date: Wednesday, 04 August 2010

Author(s): Xiong Gong, Univ. of California, Santa Barbara (United States)


Ultrasensitive Solution Processed Polymer Photodetectors Xiong Gong1,2, Minghong Tong1, Rajeev Kumar1, Gang Yu2, Boo Nilsson2, Fred Wudl1, and Alan J. Heeger2 1) Center of Polymers and Organic Solids, University of California, Santa Barbara, USA 2)CBrite Inc., Goleta, CA 93117, USA Photodetectors sensitive to the full UV-visible to infrared spectrum are very desirable for scientific and technological applications, but conventional semiconductor detectors are limited to narrow sub-bands of the spectrum. Here we report ultrasensitive solution processed photodetectors fabricated by narrow band-gap semiconducting polymers as the electron donors and fullerences derivatives and/or inorganic quantum dots as the electron acceptors. Polymer photodetectors with different photo-response, from 300nm to 1700nm and from 300nm to 2100nm and detectivity larger than 1011 cm Hz1/2/W were demonstrated. All these values are comparable to or even better than their inorganic counterparts.
A hybrid optoelectric device for multi-scale droplet and particle manipulation
Paper 7762-68 of Conference 7762
Date: Wednesday, 04 August 2010

Author(s): Cara T. Smith, Raviraj Thakur, Han-Sheng Chuang, Aloke Kumar, Steven T. Wereley, Purdue Univ. (United States)


We present a hybrid optoelectric device capable of dynamically manipulating micro-particles and microliter-sized aqueous droplets by combining open optoelectrowetting (O-OEW) and AC electrokinetics. This device realizes addressable aqueous droplet translation in an open structure by employing interdigitated electrodes that lie beneath layers of photoconductive amorphous silicon, silicon dioxide, and Teflon. Manipulation of micro-particles within a droplet is performed with an infrared laser that causes particle aggregation on the electrode surface due to electrokinetic forces such as AC electro-osmosis and thermally-induced electrohydrodynamics. This device can be used to translate colloidal droplets to a reaction site for active particle patterning.
Metamaterial array of subwavelength silicon carbide plasmonic-type antennas
Paper 7754-60 of Conference 7754
Date: Wednesday, 04 August 2010

Author(s): Burton Neuner III, Chih-Hui Wu, The Univ. of Texas at Austin (United States); Gregory Ten Eyck, Michael Sinclair, Igal Brener, Sandia National Labs. (United States); Gennady Shvets, The Univ. of Texas at Austin (United States)


For the first time, a subwavelength-period (metamaterial) array of metal-free antennas has been fabricated, spectroscopically analyzed, and numerically simulated, exhibiting highly resonant electric and magnetic modes. The antennas are fabricated from silicon carbide, a polar crystal that exhibits negative permittivity in the mid-infrared, supports plasmonic-type surface phonon-polaritons, and offers weaker damping than noble metal polaritons. Simulations identify field enhancements and electric resonances in regions of positive and negative permittivity for antennas as short as lambda/3. Magnetic modes confined within the antenna exhibit negative permeability and may be useful for negative index materials.
Characterization of photoactivated singlet oxygen damage in single-molecule optical trap experiments
Paper 7762-91 of Conference 7762
Date: Wednesday, 04 August 2010

Author(s): Markita P. Landry, Univ. of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (United States); Patrick M. McCall, Univ. of Illinois at Urbana Champaign (United States); Zhi Qi, Yann R. Chemla, Univ. of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (United States)


Optical traps use near-infrared laser beams to study biological systems. Although previous studies have established that optical tweezers induce photodamage in vivo, the effects of trap irradiation have yet to be examined for the most common application of optical traps: in vitro. In this study, we show that exposure to the trapping light can affect experimental resolution. Most importantly, we confirm that DNA bases are irreversibly damaged by photochemically produced singlet oxygen. We discuss methods to reduce oxidative damage: Working under anaerobic conditions, using additives that quench singlet oxygen, or trapping microspheres lacking the sensitizers necessary for singlet state photoexcitation.
Effect of volcanic-ash on the pyroelectric and dielectric properties of Portland cement
Paper 7780A-15 of Conference 7780A
Date: Wednesday, 04 August 2010

Author(s): Kamala N. Bhat, Ashok K. Batra, Sudip Bhattacharjee, Robert W. Taylor, Alabama A&M Univ. (United States)


The property of pyroelectric effect finds application in infrared detection. A study was conducted to investigate the effect of inclusion of volcanic ash into cement and bonded with polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) giving cement:volcanic-ash systems. The ash used in this experiment is from the eruption of the Soufrière Hill volcano in the island of Montserrat, West Indies. Preliminary results indicate that cement: volcanic ash systems shows pyroelectric effect. Further investigations were carried to determine the effect of temperature and frequency on the variation of dielectric properties. The results show that both dielectric constant and ac conductivity of cement decrease with inclusion of volcanic-ash.
Solution processed semitransparent polymer solar cells
Paper 7777-65 of Conference 7777
Date: Wednesday, 04 August 2010

Author(s): Manuel Reinhard, Andreas Puetz, Felix Nickel, Alexander Colsmann, Uli Lemmer, Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (Germany)


We present semi-transparent polymer solar cells comprising the highly efficient low-bandgap co-polymer PSBTBT with an absorption extending to the near infrared and a sputtered zinc oxide cathode. With respect to fully printable device architectures we then replaced the cathode with a highly conductive transparent polymeric electrode from PEDOT:PSS. In order to minimize losses at the interface of the organic absorber layer and the PEDOT:PSS electrode we incorporated a BPhen:Li interlayer. Finally, we replaced the BPhen:Li buffer layer with an electron transport layer from extrinsically doped, monodisperse zinc oxide nanoparticles in order to fabricate the devices fully from solution.
The application of HgCdTe detector for measuring methane
Paper 7780A-19 of Conference 7780A
Date: Wednesday, 04 August 2010

Author(s): Chen Chen, Hai Yu, Lei Liang, Lei Li, Yiding Wang, Jilin Univ. (China)


Methane (CH4) have strong absorption feature peaks in the mid-infrared (MIR) fingerprint region between λ=7 and 13 μm. We can use HgCdTe detectors to detect the residual intensity of light which is absorbed by methane. In this paper, we present double optical path based on quantum cascade lasers (QCLs) operating at wavelengths around λ=7.6μm and HgCdTe detectors for detecting the concentration of methane. Digital Signal Processing (DSP) module can calculate the concentration of methane through Lambert-Beer's law and display the concentration of methane on Liquid Crystal Display(LCD). The sensitivity limit (standard deviation) under field conditions is 1 ppm (20 ppb under laboratory conditions) for a measuring time of 0.6 s.
Tunable dye lasing from single glycerol-water microdroplets on a superhydrophobic surface
Paper 7762-122 of Conference 7762
Date: Wednesday, 04 August 2010

Author(s): Yasin Karadag, Michael Mestre, Mustafa Gundogan, Alper Kiraz, Koç Univ. (Turkey)


Liquid microdroplets standing on a superhydrophobic surface can be considered as an optical microcavity due to their nearly spherical shape. We managed to combine large tunability of whispering gallery modes and dye lasing from individual microdroplets. A sub-picosecond mode locked green laser is used to excite individual microdroplets. Dye lasing is observed in the whispering gallery modes (WGMs) around 640 nm. Tuning is achieved using the photothermal effect relying on heating by a CW infrared laser. Due to evaporation of the volatile component -water- in the microdroplets, their size decreases resulting in the blue-shift of the WGMs exhibiting lasing.
3D numerical analysis of As-diffused HgCdTe planar pixel arrays
Paper 7780A-13 of Conference 7780A
Date: Thursday, 05 August 2010

Author(s): Craig Keasler, Michele Moresco, Enrico Bellotti, Danilo D'Orsogna, The Boston Univ. Photonics Ctr. (United States); Phil Lamarre, Photronix Inc. (United States)


In this paper we present a full three-dimensional numerical simulation of Arsenic-diffused HgCdTe based planar pixel arrays intended for detection in the medium- and long-wavelength infrared spectral range. As-diffused planar detector array structures, as opposed to mesa-type structures do not require any etching processing and may result in detector arrays with higher performance than the mesa type. Because of their importance it is critical to develop numerical simulation models useful to predict the arrays performance before they are fabricated. The goal of this work is to study the dependence of the quantum efficiency and the pixel-to-pixel cross talk on the geometrical and material parameters.
Accelerating the RTTOV radiative transfer model on graphics processing units
Paper 7810-37 of Conference 7810
Date: Thursday, 05 August 2010

Author(s): Bormin Huang, Jarno Mielikainen, Allen H. Huang, Univ. of Wisconsin-Madison (United States)


The RTTOV is a fast radiative transfer model for a variety of space-borne infrared and microwave sounders and imagers. The development of the RTTOV has been carried out in the framework of the EUMETSAT-sponsored Numerical Weather Prediction (NWP) Satellite Application Facility (SAF). The RTTOV is written in FORTRAN and runs on Linux machines from PCs to supercomputers. RTTOV performance in operational NWP systems still limits the number of channels we can use in ultraspectral sounders to a few hundreds. The fast radiative transfer model is very suitable for the GPU implementation as it can take advantage of the hardware's efficiency and parallelism. Under the funding support of EUMETSAT NWP SAF led by UK Met Office, we are developing a GPU-based high-performance RTTOV forward model. Providing improved performance for RTTOV is an important goal to allow NWP centers to use more satellite data which this work will help to inform a possible way forward on future processing platforms.
Active mid-IR plasmonics
Paper 7756-41 of Conference 7756
Date: Thursday, 05 August 2010

Author(s): Daniel M. Wasserman, David C. Adams, Troy Ribaudo, Univ. of Massachusetts Lowell (United States); Sukosin Thongrattanasiri, Oregon State Univ. (United States); Viktor A. Podolskiy, Univ. of Massachusetts Lowell (United States) and Oregon State Univ. (United States); Brandon S. Passmore, Eric A. Shaner, Sandia National Labs. (United States)


We will describe our work with mid-infrared (mid-IR) plasmonic structures. We will first present experiments demonstrating our ability to spectrally and spatially resolve propagating surface waves on mid-IR plasmonic structures, and show how active tuning of the optical properties of our plasmonic devices allows for control of the coupling to these propagating surface modes. In addition, we will present semiconductor/plasmonic mid-IR beam steering devices which exhibit a wide range of steering angles for incident coherent mid-IR radiation in the 9-10µm range. We will demonstrate that small changes in the semiconductor dielectric constant can shift the beaming angle as much as 3°.
Novel fast catadioptric objective with wide field of view
Paper 7780B-23 of Conference 7780B
Date: Thursday, 05 August 2010

Author(s): Fernando Muñoz, Light Prescriptions Innovators Europe, S. L. (Spain); José M. Infante, Indra (Spain); Pablo Benítez, Juan C. Miñano, Lin Wang, Univ. Politécnica de Madrid (Spain); Juan F. Vilaplana, Light Prescriptions Innovators Europe, S. L. (Spain); Marta C. de la Fuente, Indra (Spain)


We present a fast catadioptric objective with a wide field of view (125ºx96º) designed for a microbolometer detector with 640x480 pixels and 25 microns pixel pitch, that covers the infrared band between 7-14 microns. The design procedure has started with an SMS-2D design, which, when adapted to imaging optics, can provide rotationally symmetric non-spherical solutions that are close enough to the final solution as a starting point for a numerical optimisation process. The final design presented here resembles a modified Schwarzschild configuration. It meets the requisites, is compact and only uses three elements: two aspherical mirrors and one aspherical lens.
Holographic compensation-based optical readout technique for microcantilever IR image system
Paper 7780B-24 of Conference 7780B
Date: Thursday, 05 August 2010

Author(s): Liquan Dong, Ming Liu, Xiaohua Liu, Yuejin Zhao, Beijing Institute of Technology (China); Xiaomei Yu, Peking Univ. (China); Mei Hui, Xuhong Chu, Cheng Gong, Xiaoxiao Zhou, Beijing Institute of Technology (China)


The progress of MEMS-based uncooled infrared focal plane arrays (IRFPAs) are one of the most successful examples of integrated MEMS devices. We report on the fabrication and performance of a optical readout MEMS IRFPA based on microcantilever. However, it is difficult to avoid unwanted shape distortions in fabrication, which can degrade image quality in many ways. In this paper, the actual manufacturing errors of FPA are deeply analyzed. The limitations of the errors are given. It is ales pointed out that the detecting sensitivity has its special complexity if the shape of the FPA is not ideal flat. To overcome these errors, a novel holographic compensating illumination technology was given. And a model of computer generated holographic compensation is given as a further development to be actualized in future The experiment shows that it is a feasible way to improve system performance, especially when it is too difficult to perfect the techniques of an FPA fabrication.

Reversible photochromic materials for photonic crystal applications
Paper 7756-43 of Conference 7756
Date: Thursday, 05 August 2010

Author(s): Evgenia Kim, Arunkumar Natarajan, Kwok Pong Chan, GE Global Research (United States)


There is an intense interest in Photonic band gap Crystals (PC) due to their potential ability to localize light, increase light waveguiding efficiency, and increase the efficiency of stimulated emission processes. Our interest is in scanning photochromic materials with reversibility and high dn for creating photonic band gap (PBG) structures in PC in the visible and infrared regions. Tuning of the PBG is achieved by using the available large changes of the refractive index (~0.08) of the photochromic material induced by irradiation. Additionally the photochromic properties are allowed to reversibly switch reflection of PBG structure by irradiation at different wavelengths. These features could be very useful for optoelectronic devices.
Optical resonator in gap plasmon waveguide
Paper 7757-69 of Conference 7757
Date: Thursday, 05 August 2010

Author(s): Masanobu Haraguchi, Hidenori Sokabe, Masamichi Taniguchi, Tatsuya Okuno, Toshihiro Okamoto, Masuo Fukui, Univ. of Tokushima (Japan)


We study functional devices in a plasmon waveguide in order to realize a compact integrated optical circuit. We have fabricated several types of resonator in gap plasmonic waveguides, of which the gap width is around 150 nm, with stubs embedded in a silver thin film on a substrate by using lithography techniques. The characteristics of these structures have been observed experimentally from visible to near-infrared light. The gap plasmon waveguide structures with stubs have been confirmed to work as a compact wavelength selective device or optical resonator. We will discuss advantages of the plasmonic device compared with other optical devices.
An image fusion for concealed weapon detection
Paper 7798-92 of Conference 7798
Date: Monday, 02 August 2010

Author(s): Alaaeldin M. Hafez, King Saud Univ. (Saudi Arabia)


There is a growing necessity to improve safety and security in large urban environments, especially in transport stations such as airports and underground stations and for strategic infrastructure such as nuclear plants and petroleum platforms. Surveillance systems are a technological answer to this need. A surveillance system provides real-time monitoring of a specific environment and assists humans by extending the perception and reasoning capabilities related to situations. The key areas of video-based surveillance systems are object and event detection and tracking, person identification, behavioral analysis, and large-scale surveillance systems. Previous work concentrated on developing more accurate object detection and tracking algorithms, regardless of the amount of resources and the degree of complexity. The previous systems rely on having one computer for every camera or one computer serving several cameras. The cameras are wire connected to the cameras; therefore, the computers must be close. This means that the related cost for expanding this current system into a large-scale system will be large and the power consumed for such systems will go up rapidly as the system scales up. The following are among the features of the proposed architecture for an automated scene understanding. An Image Fusion for Concealed Weapon Detection is proposed. Image fusion allows detecting concealed weapons underneath a person's clothing with imaging sensors such as Infrared imaging or Passive Millimeter Wave sensors.
Functionalisation of three-dimensional photonic crystals
Paper 7756-20 of Conference 7756
Date: Tuesday, 03 August 2010

Author(s): Min Gu, Swinburne Univ. of Technology (Australia)


Functionalisation of three-dimensional (3D) photonic crystals (PCs) is a key step toward functional photonic devices including photonic circuits, photonic displays and biosensing. To this end, it is necessary to incorporate physical functionalities into photonic bandgap structures. The important functionality includes nonlinearity and metallisation. On the other the hand, due to the strong discontinuities of the dielectric function at the metal/air or metal/dielectric interfaces, 3D metallic photonic crystals (MPC)s offer intriguing electromagnetic properties and important applications such as enhanced metal absorption, modified blackbody radiation, ultra-wide complete photonic band gaps, negative refraction, sub-wavelength imaging, and microwave antenna and circuits. In this presentation, recent progress on the fabrication of functional PCs will be reported. In particular, it is shown that the incorporation of highly nonlinear nanocrystal quantum dots can transform the plain polymer into a multi-functional active medium, leading to a 3D nonlinear photonic crystal with stop gaps with more than 80% suppression in transmission in the telecommunication wavelength region. We also demonstrate the fabrication of 3D hybrid MPCs with stop gaps in the near-infrared wavelength range. This kind of 3D metallic PC possesses not only strong photonic band gaps but also significant localised plasmon resonances (LPRs) due to the existence of the coated metallic nanoshells. The resultant LPRs significantly enhance the absorption of 3D MPCs by more than two orders of magnitude and can be widely tuned in spectra.
Plasmonic sensor based on perfect absorption
Paper 7757-55 of Conference 7757
Date: Wednesday, 04 August 2010

Author(s): Na Liu, Thomas Weiss, Martin Mesch, Harald W. Giessen, Univ. Stuttgart (Germany)


In practical applications, losses are inevitable in plasmonic metallic nanostructures. Significant effort has been paid to achieve low-loss devices, for instance by optimizing structural geometries and by using gain materials. Recently, the concept of perfect metamaterial absorbers triggered a new research area in which losses are actually put to the advantage [1]. Here we introduce a novel plasmonic device which combines the concepts of an localized surface plasmon resonance (LSPR) sensor and a perfect absorber. We demonstrate experimentally for the first time a narrow-band perfect absorber working as plasmonic sensor in the near-infrared regime. We show that this plasmonic device yields ~ 99% absorbance in the experiment and remains highly absorptive over a wide range of incident angles for both transverse electric (TE) and transverse magnetic (TM) configurations. Specifically, we demonstrate that our plasmonic device can work as a sensitive LSPR sensor. Different from existing LSPR sensors which measure the spectral shift of a resonance upon a refractive index change of the surrounding medium, our plasmonic absorber sensor detects rather a relative intensity change dI/Io at a fixed frequency induced by a refractive index change dn. A figure of merit FOM* which was introduced by J. Becker et al. is defined as (dI/dn)/Io, where Io is the intensity of the reference beam without the sensing agent [2]. We have achieved a FOM* around 85 in the experiment by measuring the intensity changes with different local dielectric materials (air, water, and glucose solution) at the sample surface. Our FOM* is nearly four times larger than that of plasmonic gold nanorod sensors [2]. Our absorber sensor concept offers substantial advantages over classical sensing methods and is of special interest in numerous applications due to its background-free detection scheme. [1] N. I. Landy, S. Sajuyigbe, J. J. Mock, D. R. Smith, and W. J. Padilla, ´´Perfect metamaterial absorber,´´ Phys. Rev. Lett. 100, 207402 (2008). [2] J. Becker, A. Trügler, A. Jakab, U. Hohenester, and C. Sönnichsen, ´´The optimal aspect ratio of gold nanorods for plasmonic bio-sensing,´´ submitted.
Comparison of backward-scattered detection and forward-scattered detection for measuring optical force in optical tweezers
Paper 7762-128 of Conference 7762
Date: Wednesday, 04 August 2010

Author(s): Yi-Jr Su, Long Hsu, National Chiao Tung Univ. (Taiwan)


Optical tweezers have become an important tool to measure forces in biology. The trapped particle, driven by Brownian motion, is in a harmonic potential built by the optical tweezers. The trapped particle displacements acquired from the position detection system are applied to calibrate trapping stiffness using mean square displacement method or power spectrum method. The near infrared light is typically used as a laser source to reduce the damage to a cell or cellular organelles and the biological objects can be held and moved by exerting piconewton (pN) forces. In force measurement, optical force strength is calculated by multiplying trapping stiffness and trapped bead displacement. Optical tweezers perform a wider range of experiments through the integration of a quadrant photodiode (QPD) for position detection. Both forward-scattered detection and backward-scattered detection are the typical position detection. This study discussed both backward-scattered detection and forward-scattered detection that add a probing beam and their linear detection ranges that describe the precise position of the trapped bead. This work also discussed their linear detection ranges related to the distance between the two laser system focuses, confirming the optimum positions of the two focuses. The result indicated that the linear detection range of backward-scattered detection is longer than the forward-scattered detection. Hence, backward-scattered detection measures the longer displacement of the trapped bead in optical force measurement.
Fabrication and characterization of neodymium doped gallium oxide films grown on different substrates
Paper 7764-37 of Conference 7764
Date: Wednesday, 04 August 2010

Author(s): Céline Lecerf, J. Cardin, P. Marie, X. Portier, Ecole Nationale Supérieure d'Ingenieurs de Caen et Ctr. de Recherche (France)


Among the Transparent Conductive Oxides materials, gallium oxide exhibits the largest band gap (~4.9 eV) and it has potential applications in optoelectronic devices such as flat panel displays, solar energy conversion devices, and ultraviolet emitters. Neodymium doped gallium oxide films were elaborated on silicon substrate by the radiofrequency magnetron sputtering method. The amount of neodymium in the films is controlled and is determined by SIMS measurements. An appropriate annealing treatment gives rise to the formation of the stable monoclinic Ga2O3 phase. The photoluminescence (PL) activity of the Nd3+ ions was observed in the infrared spectral range through the 4F3/2 → 4I11/2, 4I9/2 transitions. Moreover, a PL emission arising from the gallium oxide matrix was observed in the visible range and a mechanism of energy transfer from host to rare earth ions is proposed. Deposition parameters such as substrate temperature, radiofrequency power and gas pressure were studied and both structural and PL properties were thus optimized in term of transparency and PL intensity. Finally, in order to improve the quality of the films different substrates have been tested. The resulting optical and electrical properties are discussed.
Simulation of carbon nanotube photovoltaic arrays
Paper 7761-29 of Conference 7761
Date: Wednesday, 04 August 2010

Author(s): H. Abdel Rahman, The British Univ. in Egypt (Egypt); K. Kirah, Univ. Française d'Égypte (Egypt); H. Ghali, The British Univ. in Egypt (Egypt); W. Anis, Ain Shams Univ. (Egypt)


Exploring renewable, sustainable and green energy resources is a critical challenge for scientists and engineers. Large-scale ambient energy, such as the solar energy is available but technologies do not yet exist to capture it with great efficiency. The sun radiates visible light and also infrared energy, some of which is soaked up by the earth and later released as radiation for hours after sunset. Carbon nanotubes (CN) can be made with different energy gaps (Eg) to take in energy from the whole spectrum of the sunlight and the earth's heat. The optimum combination of CN with different energy gaps can cover a larger spectral range of the solar radiation and therefore has a higher total efficiency. Maximum power absorption could be achieved without the need for excess areas. In this study, the use of arrays of CN Field Effect Transistors (CNFET) as the photovoltaic (PV) elements has been investigated. The effects of Eg, the tube length and the distribution of PV elements on the array performance are studied. The interaction between electromagnetic waves and the CN array is simulated in order to calculate the amount of absorbed power. For long channel CNFETs, carrier transport is dominated by scattering. A home built simulator based on the self-consistent solution of Poisson's equation and the semi-classical drift-diffusion equations is used. The Schottky-barriers are treated quantum mechanically. The efficiency is calculated and the result compares well with the published experimental one. The effects of the tube chirality, tube length and oxide permittivity on the device operation are investigated.
Singlet oxygen generation by two-photon photosensitizers: Influence of gold nanoparticles and photodynamic therapy applications
Paper 7765-25 of Conference 7765
Date: Thursday, 05 August 2010

Author(s): Thibault Gallavardin, Ecole Normale Supérieure de Lyon (France) and Univ. Claude Bernard Lyon 1 (France); Olivier Maury, Ecole Normale Supérieure de Lyon (France); Frédéric Lerouge, Stephane Parola, Univ. Claude Bernard Lyon 1 (France); Chantal Andraud, Ecole Normale Supérieure de Lyon (France)


Cancer therapy is known to cause toxicity due to the difficult targeting of tumor cells. New techniques are currently developed to reduce sides effects. In this context photodynamic therapy is promising . This latter approach consists in generating singlet oxygen or reactive oxygen species which are able to induce cells apoptosis by irradiation of photosensitizers. The use of a non linear two photon excitation provides a high 3D spatial resolution by photosensitizers activation strictly at the focal point of the laser. Moreover near-infrared laser wavelengths which promote two-photon absorption (TPA) are located in the biological transparency window (700-1100nm) allowing deeper penetration in tissues. Even if many families of one photon photosensitizers have been studied, and if some molecules have been approved for human phototherapy, there is only few examples of photosensitizers designed for two-photon excitation. Such molecules must have large two-photon absorption cross-section and strong proclivity to stabilize an excited triplet state (intersystem crossing process ISC) in order to promote allowed energy transfer (ET) with oxygen triplet ground state. On the other hand gold nanoparticles are known as promising drug delivery agents for cancer therapy thanks to passive tumor targeting which is due to hypervascularization, and hyperpermeability of tumor blood vessels. In addition, gold nanoparticles present particuliar optical properties, like local field enhancement and surface plasmon resonance, which may improve photodynamic therapy efficiency. Here we present the synthesis of a chromophore featuring extended π-conjugation with lateral donor groups and central triplet stabilizing core (D-π-A-π-D). This chromophore has been further functionalized with disulfide for grafting on small gold nanoparticles (6 nm). Spectroscopic characterizations (fluorescence, phosphorescence, singlet oxygen generation) have been performed on both "free chromophores" and chromophores grafted on gold nanoparticles.
Terahertz nonlinear spectroscopy of free-carriers in direct bandgap semiconductors
Paper 7763-11 of Conference 7763
Date: Sunday, 01 August 2010

Author(s): Luca Razzari, Francois Blanchard, Institut National de la Recherche Scientifique (Canada); Fuhai Su, Univ. of Alberta (Canada); Gargi Sharma, Institut National de la Recherche Scientifique (Canada); Ayesheshim K. Ayesheshim, Tyler L. Cocker, Lyubov V. Titova, Univ. of Alberta (Canada); Heidi C. Bandulet, Roberto Morandotti, Jean-Claude Kieffer, Tsuneyuki Ozaki, Institut National de la Recherche Scientifique (Canada); Matthew E. Reid, Univ. of Northern British Columbia (Canada); Frank A. Hegmann, Univ. of Alberta (Canada)


Ultrafast nonlinear processes have been extensively explored in the visible and near infrared frequency range, thanks to the availability of ultrashort pulses delivered by mode-locked lasers. Here, the combination of high intensities of excitation together with a very fine temporal resolution have shed new light on diverse aspects of condensed-matter dynamics [1]. On the other hand, this kind of phenomena has remained relatively unexplored in the terahertz (THz) spectral region (typically 0.1-10 THz), mainly because of the lack of sources delivering high-energy, fewcycle THz pulses. Nowadays, this kind of sources is becoming available [2,3], thus opening the route towards the understanding of new aspects of radiation-matter interaction. Nonlinear interactions at THz frequencies possess interesting properties and peculiarities: on one side, in this spectral range one can observe an intermediate regime in which both electronic and ionic motions contribute to the nonlinear dielectric function of a material. On the other side, the very low energy per photon associated to this radiation allows to neglect multiphoton interactions in semiconductors, thus opening up the possibility of observing drift-velocity-based nonlinearities owing to free carriers in this type of systems. While these processes were studied in the past using relatively long THz pulses (time duration of several tens of nanoseconds) [4,5], the above-mentioned new-generation of few-cycle THz sources allows now to explore their ultrafast nature and dynamics in the picosecond domain [6]. In particular, our investigation has been aimed at studying the ultrafast nonlinear dynamics of free carriers in semiconductors and at developing the proper tools for this new kind of THz spectroscopy. We have performed several nonlinear experiments on free-carriers in direct bandgap semiconductors at THz frequencies. Techniques as Z-scan [7], THz pump - THz probe [8], and optical pump - THz probe [9] have been employed to explore nonlinear interactions in both n-doped and photoexcited samples. The mechanism that dominates these nonlinearities is found to be intervalley scattering and a simple mathematical model adding this effect to a standard Drude-like response well explains our experimental results. References [1] S. Mukamel, Principles of nonlinear spectroscopy, Oxford University Press, (1999). [2] F. Blanchard et al., Opt. Exp. 15 (20), 13212 (2007). [3] K.-L. Yeh, Appl. Phys. Lett. 90, 171121 (2007). [4] A. Mayer and F. Keilmann, Phys. Rev. B 33, 6954 (1986). [5] A. Mayer and F. Keilmann, Phys. Rev. B 33, 6962 (1986). [6] J. Hebling et al., IEEE J. Sel. Top. Quant. Electron. 14, 345 (2008). [7] L. Razzari et al., Phys. Rev. B 79, 193204 (2009). [8] F. Blanchard et al., in preparation. [9] F.H. Su et al., Opt. Exp. 17 (12), 9620 (2009).