High efficiency up- and down-converting infrared nanoparticles

ABSTRACT: The ability to track and identify personnel, vehicles, and equipment is becoming an increasingly important component of military missions. A number of taggants that can be covertly attached to a target have recently been developed. To increase the operational advantage provided by taggants, it is possible to encode IR taggants with optical signatures which upconvert or downconvert incident radiation by 100 nm or more to reduce the likelihood of signal interception. During the Phase I research period we will develop high efficiency IR taggants which upconvert or downconvert short-wave infrared incident radiation by more than 100 nm. The taggant brightness, photostability, and ease of detection will be measured at various distances on a variety of materials and under different environmental conditions. BENEFIT: Optically efficient IR taggants which upconvert or downconvert incident radiation by 100 nm or more will provide a significant advantage in covert tagging and tracking. The taggants will be bright, photostable, environmentally stable, nontoxic, and be detectable at large stand off distances. Taggants will be compatible with aerosol or solvent based dissemination formats. Taggants developed under this program will also have other potential applications including biomedical and diagnostic applications.