Narrowband Perfect Absorber for Infrared Sensing

Under this subsequent SBIR Phase II proposal, SRICO combines metamaterial narrowband absorbers and proprietary thin film pyroelectric thermal detectors to produce ultra low size, weight, power and cost (SWAP-C) room temperature stand-off chemical sensors. Spectrally and aperture selective metamaterial absorption suppresses blackbody radiation and enables the room temperature pyroelectric sensor to emulate the intrinsic noise rejection of cooled semiconductor band-gap devices. An array of thin pyroelectric metamaterial absorber elements tuned to different wavelengths are formed to produce a highly compact and high speed long wave infrared (LWIR) spectrometer for mobile passive stand-off chemical sensing. In prior Phase I and Phase II STTR efforts, SRICO proved the pyroelectric metamaterial sensor concept by demonstrating single and arrayed element narrowband MMPA pyroelectric elements. In this subsequent Phase II, arrayed MMPA sensor elements will be optimized for detection of specific analytes. Digital electronics and a software user interface will be developed to implement stand-alone chemical sensor modules. Compact, low cost and spectrally resolved stand-off chemical sensor modules that operate at room temperature will have broad applicability to a large number of important defense, industrial, medical, and environmental applications.