Low Cost/High Performance Millimeter Wave Imagers

Millimeter wave imagers are being investigated as solutions to a variety of military and commercial problems. Millimeter waves penetrate fogs and clouds thus allowing for operation under conditions of adverse visibility. In addition, millimeter waves penetrate clothing and reveal concealed weapons (plastic and metal). Millimeter wave focal plane detector arrays (FPAs) are currently under development for imaging, but these devices. even when fully developed, will have significant cost. In this proposal we describe two configurations for millimeter wave imaging with the potential of greatly reduced cost. The first achieves good imaging when the detection is limited by intrinsic detector noise. The second achieves good imaging when the detection is limited by signal induced shot noise. The goal of the work proposed here is to establish the technical feasibility of the two configurations and to more adequately determine the cost and performance advantages versus the conventional FPA.