Miniaturized FT-IR Sensor for Infrared Measurements

2Phase II will develop an advanced dynamically-balanced "isolation interferometer" whose mirror motion is decoupled from external vibrations. Such an interferometer can be employed to make an FT-IR instrument which is immune to vibration and is permanently aligned. Advanced Fuel Research,Inc./On-line Technologies, Inc. will test both the plane mirror and corner cube designs, choose the best one and fabricate and test an FT-IR spectrometer for delivery to the Army. Phase II will result in a break-through improvement in portable, rugged, FT-IR instrumentation with the following performance improvements: factor of 30 in vibration suppression; factor of 10 increase in signal-to-noise ratio; factor of 10 increase in scan speed; and a factor of 3 reduction in size and weight. Applications of a passive IR sensor include: identification of rocket launches from satellites, battlefield chemical detection, toxic chemical monitoring, monitoring of emission from superfund sites and monitoring of smoke stack and auto effluents.