INTEGRATED OPTICS MACH ZEHNDER BASED INFRARED SENSOR

A SPECTRALLY AGILE BASED UPON A TUNABLE FILTER CAN EFFECTIVELY MEASURE INFRARED BACKGROUND, TARGETS, AND OBSCURANT CLOUDS. AN INTEGRATED OPTICS INTEGRATED FILTER (IOTF) PLACED IN FRONT OF THE SENSOR FOCAL PLANE OR INTEGRATED WITH THE FOCAL PLANE DETECTORS CAN BE USED TO SELECT WAVEBAND LOCATION AND BANDWIDTH IN THE INFRARED. A SPECIFIC CONCEPT FOR THE FILTER IS PROPOSED BASED UPON A MACHZEHNDER IMPLEMENTATION OF FILTER. THE IMPLEMENTATION OF THE CONCEPT COULD PROVIDE SPECTRAL SELECTION TO EACH DETECTOR IN THE FOCAL PLANE. THE SENSOR CAN THEREFORE BE ADJUSTABLE IN SEGMENTS OF THE FIELD OF VIEW, ENABLING MULTIPLE FUNCTIONS TO BE CARRIED OUT SIMULTANEOUSLY. AN INSTRUMENT BASED UPON SUCH A DEVICE PROVIDES THE FLEXIBILITY DESIRED IN "SMART" SENSORS, AND IS EFFECT A PRE-FOCAL PLANE DATA PROCESSOR. THE EXPECTED PERFORMANCE AND TECHNOLOGY ISSUES WILL BE IDENTIFIED AND THE FEASIBILITY OF THE CONCEPT SHOWN IN THIS PHASE I PROGRAM. PHASE II WILL CONSTRUCT A COMPLETE SINGLE CHANNEL OF THE FILTER AND DETECTOR IN A SIMPLE OPTICAL DEMONSTRATOR.