A Proposal for a Frequency Domain Imaging Sensor for Stand-off Chemical Detection

Oman Moments, Inc. (OMI), a small business, offers to U.S. Army ERDEC the unique Fabry-Perot Interferometer technology developed by our teammate Northrop Grumman (NG) NG has demonstrated design, construction and performance of imaging etalons operating in low order in the infrared. Their solutions to the Phase I problems of very high mirror reflectance, flatness and alignment over a 1 or spacing will be demonstrated. It will operate with one OSF, allowing transmission >50%. Real-time processing and data bandwidth 50%, FSR >400cm(-1) (single peak over bandpass), and FWHM spectral resolution <10 cm(-1) over 8-l2um. OMI's founder Dick Oman supervised the etalon project at Grumman until 1993. Dr. Oman is Principal Investigator. OMI has retained Dr. William Van Nostrand, who developed the control system of the low-order NG etalon, and Vincent Calia, who ran the NG IR Plume Laboratory until recently. Phase 1 demonstrations will be performed in NG laboratories with Drs. Robert Ryan and Richard Madonna. BENEFITS: Phase I success will enable a cryogenic focal pland array in Phase 2, and commercial development as a field instrument in Phase 3. This will provide a new direction to chemical detection, pointing to an operational instrument that shows gas cloud shape, size, content and concentration for most species. Commercial and Military applications are many, because the package will be small, light and rugged.