An innovative dayglow spectrometer utilizing Fabry-Perot etalons

"This proposal investigates the use of two different Fabry-Perot based airglow sense to determine the most efficacious design of a daytime airglow sensor. Using a combination of holographic optical elements and Fabry-Perot etalons a system will be designedthat will have the ability to observe several different wavelengths during the entire diurnal period. Airglow observations proposed in Phase I will be used to validate the holographic FP-CCD coupling optics. Then two strawman models will be developed tocompare and contrast an FP imaging system with a non-imaging system this will allow the full system design of a dayglow spectrometer that will be constructed in Phase II. The system will provide spatial as well as spectral information, allowing thedetection of 630.0nm airglow to be used as a predictor of equatorial spread-f. Scientific Solutions has a long heritage of airglow observations including a robotic airglow photometer in Chile, the proposed system will incorporate many of the same designelements. The final system will be autonomous, capable of independent or remote controlled operation over the Internet. The commercial aspects of this technology are unlimited. An immediate customer will be NOAA and the Air Force both who needthermospheric dynamics information for many space weather models. A variant of this technology can be used for in-situ clear air turbulence detection and the construction of very efficient LIDAR sy