LOW COST LIGHT WEIGHT OPTICAL COMPONENTS FOR APPLICATION TO INFRARED DETECTION DEVICES

THE OBJECTIVE OF THIS PROPOSED PROGRAM WILL BE TO SELECT LOW COST, LIGHT WEIGHT MATERIALS TRANSMITTING IN THE INFRARED AND THEN TO DESIGN AND MAKE THE COMPONENTS, AND THE COATINGS THAT ARE SPECIFIED FOR FTIR DETECTION (WINDOWS, BEAMSPLITTERS, AND LENSES). THE INVESTIGATIONS WILL BE DIRECTED TOWARDS THE REVIEW OF MATERIAL TECHNOLOGIES SUCH AS GE-BASED CHALCOGENIDES AND PLASTICS TO ACHIEVE THE SELECTION GOAL OF BOTH LOW COST AND LIGHT WEIGHT. THE EXPERIMENTAL PROGRAM WILL BE DIRECTED TOWARDS GAINING INSIGHT INTO THE EVALUATION OF TRANSMISSION PROPERTIES, HARDNESS FACTORS, HUMIDITY AND CHEMICAL ATTACK TOLERANCE. THE ELIGIBLE MATERIAL WILL BE COATED, TO OBTAIN TRANSPARENT OR SEMI-TRANSPARENT COMPONENTS. TESTS SUCH AS ADHESION, HUMIDITY, SALT SPRAY, SCRATCH, WILL BE CARRIED OUT IN ORDER TO DETERMINE OPTICAL AND MECHANICAL QUALITY OF THE COATED COMPONENTS. THE RESULTS OBTAINED DURING THIS PROGRAM CAN SUBSTANTIALLY REDUCE THE COST OF THE DETECTION SYSTEM ASSEMBLIES OVER THE CURRENTLY AVAILABLE ONES THAT USE EXPENSIVE MATERIALS SUCH AS ZNSE, ZNS, GE, GAAS. CONSIDERABLE COST ECONOMIES CAN BE OBTAINED BY COMBINING, FOR EXAMPLE, PLASTIC OPTICAL ELEMENTS WITH OTHER STRONGER MATERIAL. PLASTICS AND CHALCOGENIDES CAN OFFER HIGH PERFORMANCE IF THEY ARE USED IN THE AREAS OF THEIR CAPABILITIES. THE COMMERCIALIZATION OF THESE INEXPENSIVE OPTICS WILL BENEFIT THE ENTIRE OPTICAL COMMUNITY.