Silicon-Based Visible/Near-Infrared Affordable Missile Warning

The Phase I objectives were to explore silicon based detector/optical concepts for detecting missile rocket plumes against the daylight background and select the most promising for development. The missile exhaust plumes include narrow emission lines, some of which overlay the solar Fraunhofer absorption lines. As a consequence, these emission lines appear against a relatively dark solar background. The technical challenge is to achieve sub Angstrom spectral bandpass at a selected wavelength, over a wide field of view (FOV). Phase I investigated the performance capabilities of filter technology that affords sub-Angstrom spectral bandwidth over a very wide field of view. Phase I also included investigation of wide field of view optics for imaging a wide FOV onto the fluorescent gas cell and concomitant optics for imaging the fluorescence onto a CCD or some other solid state image sensor for threat detection. In Phase II the goal is to develop a prototype instrument and conduct field tests to demonstrate its performance.