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At least 469 records · Page 26
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NASA NTRS2020

Detector Channel Combining Results from a High Photon Efficiency Optical Communications Link Test Bed

The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) Glenn Research Center (GRC) is developing a low cost, scalable, photon-counting receiver prototype for space-to-ground optical communications links. The receiver is being tested in a test bed that emulates photon-starved space-to-ground optical communication links. The receiver uses an array of single-pixel fiber-coupled superconducting nanowire single-photon detectors. The receiver is designed to receive the high photon efficiency serially concatenated pulse position modulation (SCPPM) waveform specified in the Consultative Committee for Space Data Systems (CCSDS) Optical Communications Coding and Synchronization Blue Book Standard. The optical receiver consists of an array of single-pixel superconducting nanowire detectors, analog phase shifters for channel alignment, digitizers for each detector channel, and digital processing of the received signal. An overview of the test bed and arrayed receiver system is given. Simulation and system characterization results are presented. The data rate increase of using a four-channel arrayed detector system over using one single pixel nanowire detector is characterized. Results indicate that a single-pixel detector is capable of receiving data at a rate of 40 Mbps and a four-channel arrayed detector system is capable of receiving data at a rate of 130 Mbps.

Downey, Jennifer N.↗
NASA NTRS2020

Detector Channel Combining Results from a High Photon Efficiency Optical Communications Link Test Bed

The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) Glenn Research Center (GRC) is developing a low cost, scalable, photon counting receiver prototype for space-to-ground optical communications links. The receiver is being tested in a test bed that emulates photon-starved space-to-ground optical communication links. The receiver uses an array of single-pixel fiber-coupled superconducting nanowire single-photon detectors. The receiver is designed to receive the high photon efficiency serially concatenated pulse position modulation (SCPPM) waveform specified in the Consultative Committee for Space Data Systems (CCSDS) Optical Communications Coding and Synchronization Blue Book Standard. The optical receiver consists of an array of single-pixel superconducting nanowire detectors, analog phase shifters for channel alignment, digitizers for each detector channel, and digital processing of the received signal. An overview of the test bed and arrayed receiver system is given. Simulation and system characterization results are presented. The data rate increase of using a four-channel arrayed detector system over using one single pixel nanowire detector is characterized. Results indicate that a single-pixel detector is capable of receiving data at a rate of 40 Mbps and a four-channel arrayed detector system is capable of receiving data at a rate of 130 Mbps.

Downey, Jennifer N.↗
NASA NTRS1980

Design aspects of a laser gravitational wave detector in space

Certain optical and mechanical aspects of a proposed laser gravitational wave antenna in space are briefly discussed. The proposed concept consists of a free-mass antenna with the test masses separated by a distance of 1,000,000 km. A laser heterodyne technique is employed to measure the distance change between test masses resulting from gravitational wave interaction. The proposed scheme is considered to offer the necessary sensitivity to detect gravitational radiation from binary stars predicted by General Relativity Theory.

Decher, R.↗
NASA NTRS1985

The Nagoya cosmic-ray muon spectrometer 3, part 4: Track reconstruction method

One of the greatest problems in measuring particle trajectories with an optical or visual detector system, is the reconstruction of trajectories in real space from their recorded images. In the Nagoya cosmic-ray muon spectrometer, muon tracks are detected by wide gap spark chambers and their images are recorded on the photographic film through an optical system of 10 mirrors and two cameras. For the spatial reconstruction, 42 parameters of the optical system should be known to determine the configuration of this system. It is almost impossible to measure this many parameters directly with usual techniques. In order to solve this problem, the inverse transformation method was applied. In this method, all the optical parameters are determined from the locations of fiducial marks in real space and the locations of their images on the photographic film by the non-linear least square fitting.

Shibata, S.↗
NASA NTRS2011

A Panchromatic Imaging Fourier Transform Spectrometer for the NASA Geostationary Coastal and Air Pollution Events Mission

This paper summarizes the design and development of the Panchromatic Imaging Fourier Transform Spectrometer (PanFTS) for the NASA Geostationary Coastal and Air Pollution Events (GEO-CAPE) Mission. The PanFTS instrument will advance the understanding of the global climate and atmospheric chemistry by measuring spectrally resolved outgoing thermal and reflected solar radiation. With continuous spectral coverage from the near-ultraviolet through the thermal infrared, this instrument is designed to measure pollutants, greenhouse gases, and aerosols as called for by the U.S. National Research Council Decadal Survey; Earth Science and Applications from Space: National Imperatives for the Next Decade and Beyond1. The PanFTS instrument is a hybrid instrument based on spectrometers like the Tropospheric Emissions Spectrometer (TES) that measures thermal emission, and those like the Orbiting Carbon Observatory (OCO), and the Ozone Monitoring Instrument (OMI) that measure scattered solar radiation. Simultaneous measurements over the broad spectral range from IR to UV is accomplished by a two sided interferometer with separate optical trains and detectors for the ultraviolet-visible and infrared spectral domains. This allows each side of the instrument to be independently optimized for its respective spectral domain. The overall interferometer design is compact because the two sides share a single high precision cryogenic optical path difference mechanism (OPDM) and metrology laser as well as a number of other instrument systems including the line-of-sight pointing mirror, the data management system, thermal control system, electrical system, and the mechanical structure. The PanFTS breadboard instrument has been tested in the laboratory and demonstrated the basic functionality for simultaneous measurements in the visible and infrared. It is set to begin operations in the field at the California Laboratory for Atmospheric Remote Sensing (CLARS) observatory on Mt. Wilson measuring the atmospheric chemistry across the Los Angeles basin. Development has begun on a flight size PanFTS engineering model (EM) that addresses all critical scaling issues and demonstrates operation over the full spectral range of the flight instrument which will show the PanFTS instrument design is mature.

Imaging spectrometer(↗
NASA NTRS2004

Design of a Far-Infrared Spectrometer for Atmospheric Thermal Emission Measurements

Global measurements of far infrared emission from the upper troposphere are required to test models of cloud radiative forcing, water vapor continuum emission, and cooling rates. Spectra with adequate resolution can also be used for retrieving atmospheric temperature and humidity profiles, and yet there are few spectrally resolved measurements of outgoing longwave flux at wavelengths longer than 16 m. It has been difficult to make measurements in the far infrared due to the need for liquid-helium cooled detectors and large optics to achieve adequate sensitivity and bandwidth. We review design considerations for infrared Fourier transform spectrometers, including the dependence of system performance on basic system parameters, and discuss the prospects for achieving useful sensitivity from a satellite platform with a lightweight spectrometer using uncooled detectors.

Johnson, David G.↗
NASA NTRS1984

The evaluation of a deformable diffraction grating for a stigmatic EUV spectroheliometer

Two crucial areas in the development of the high resolution EUV spectroheliometer are the elastically deformable toroidal diffraction grating and the open-structure imaging pulse counting detector system. The optical performance of a high frequency toroidal grating at EUV wavelengths was verified with a 3600 groove/mm master grating on a spherical concave blank. An open-structure (256 x 1024) pixel, multi-anode microchannel array was developed and tested as a pulse counting detector system. These two systems verify the proof of concept of the spectroheliometer design.

Timothy, J. G.↗
NASA NTRS2013

Optical Device for Converting a Laser Beam into Two Co-aligned but Oppositely Directed Beams

Optical systems consisting of a series of optical elements require alignment from the input end to the output end. The optical elements can be mirrors, lenses, sources, detectors, or other devices. Complex optical systems are often difficult to align from end-to-end because the alignment beam must be inserted at one end in order for the beam to traverse the entire optical path to the other end. The ends of the optical train may not be easily accessible to the alignment beam. Typically, when a series of optical elements is to be aligned, an alignment laser beam is inserted into the optical path with a pick-off mirror at one end of the series of elements. But it may be impossible to insert the beam at an end-point. It can be difficult to locate the pick-off mirror at the desired position because there is not enough space, there is no mounting surface, or the location is occupied by a source, detector, or other component. Alternatively, the laser beam might be inserted at an intermediate location (not at an end-point) and sent, first in one direction and then the other, to the opposite ends of the optical system for alignment. However, in this case, alignment must be performed in two directions and extra effort is required to co-align the two beams to make them parallel and coincident, i.e., to follow the same path as an end-to-end beam. An optical device has been developed that accepts a laser beam as input and produces two co-aligned, but counter-propagating beams. In contrast to a conventional alignment laser placed at one end of the optical path, this invention can be placed at a convenient position within the optical train and aligned to send its two beams simultaneously along precisely opposite paths that, taken together, trace out exactly the same path as the conventional alignment laser. This invention allows the user the freedom to choose locations within the optical train for placement of the alignment beam. It is also self-aligned by design and requires almost no adjustment.

Jennings, Donald↗
NASA NTRS1982

Imaging spectrometer technologies for advanced Earth remote sensing

A major requirement of multispectral imaging systems for advanced Earth remote sensing is the provision for greater spectral resolution and more versatile spectral band selection. The imaging spectrometer instrument concept provides this versatility by the combination of pushbroom imaging and spectrally dispersing optics using area array detectors in the focal plane. The shuttle imaging spectrometer concept achieves 10- and 20-meter ground instantaneous fields of view with 20-nanometer spectral resolution from Earth Orbit. Onboard processing allows the selection of spectral bands during flight; this, in turn, permits the sensor parameters to be tailored to the experiment objectives. Advances in optical design, infrared detector arrays, and focal plane cooling indicate the feasibility of the instrument concept and support the practicability of a validation flight experiment for the shuttle in the late 1980s.

Wellman, J. B.↗
NASA NTRS1982

Imaging spectrometer technologies for advanced earth remote sensing

A major requirement of multispectral imaging systems for advanced earth remote sensing is the provision for greater spectral resolution and more versatile spectral band selection. The imaging spectrometer instrument concept provides this versatility by the combination of pushbroom imaging and spectrally dispersing optics using area array detectors in the focal plane. The shuttle imaging spectrometer concept achieves 10- and 20-meter ground instantaneous fields of view with 20-nanometer spectral resolution from earth orbit. Onboard processing allows the selection of spectral bands during flight; this, in turn, permits the sensor parameters to be tailored to the experiment objectives. Advances in optical design, infrared detector arrays, and focal plane cooling indicate the feasibility of the instrument concept and support the practicability of a validation flight experiment for the shuttle in the late 1980s. Previously announced in STAR as N83-28542

Wellman, J. B.↗
NASA NTRS1993

Advanced instrumentation for next-generation aerospace propulsion control systems

New control concepts for the next generation of advanced air-breathing and rocket engines and hypersonic combined-cycle propulsion systems are analyzed. The analysis provides a database on the instrumentation technologies for advanced control systems and cross matches the available technologies for each type of engine to the control needs and applications of the other two types of engines. Measurement technologies that are considered to be ready for implementation include optical surface temperature sensors, an isotope wear detector, a brushless torquemeter, a fiberoptic deflectometer, an optical absorption leak detector, the nonintrusive speed sensor, and an ultrasonic triducer. It is concluded that all 30 advanced instrumentation technologies considered can be recommended for further development to meet need of the next generation of jet-, rocket-, and hypersonic-engine control systems.

Barkhoudarian, S.↗
NASA NTRS1989

Application of a single area array detector for acquistion, tracking and point-ahead in space optical communications

Functions of acquisition, tracking, and point-ahead in space optical communications are being combined into a single system utilizing an area array detector. An analysis is presented of the feasibility concept. The key parameters are: optical power less than 1 pW at 0.86 micrometer, acquisition in less than 30 seconds in an acquisition field of view (FOV) of 1 mrad, tracking with 0.5 microrad rms noise at 1000 Hz update rate, and point ahead transfer function precision of 0.25 microrad over a region of 150 microrad. Currently available array detectors were examined. The most demanding specifications are low output noise, a high detection efficiency, a large number of pixels, and frame rates over 1kHz. A proof of concept (POC) demonstration system is currently being built utilizing the Kodak HS-40 detector (a 128 x 128 photodiode array with a 64 channel CCD readout architecture which can be operated at frame rates as high as 40,000/sec). The POC system implements a windowing scheme and special purpose digital signal processing electronic for matched filter acquisition and tracking algorithms.

Clark, D. L.↗
NASA NTRS1989

Application of a single area array detector for acquisition, tracking and point-ahead in space optical communications

Functions of acquisition, tracking, and point-ahead in space optical communications are being combined into a single system utilizing an area array detector. An analysis is presented of the feasibility concept. The key parameters are: optical power less than 1 pW at 0.86 micrometer, acquisition in less than 30 seconds in an acquisition field of view (FOV) of 1 mrad, tracking with 0.5 microrad rms noise at 1000 Hz update rate, and point ahead transfer function precision of 0.25 microrad over a region of 150 microrad. Currently available array detectors were examined. The most demanding specifications are low output noise, a high detection efficiency, a large number of pixels, and frame rates over 1kHz. A proof of concept (POC) demonstration system is currently being built utilizing the Kodak HS-40 detector (a 128 x 128 photodiode array with a 64 channel CCD readout architecture which can be operated at frame rates as high as 40,000/sec). The POC system implements a windowing scheme and special purpose digital signal processing electronic for matched filter acquisition and tracking algorithms.

Clark, D. L.↗
NASA NTRS1971

Techniques for gamma rays.

The detecting systems used in high energy astrophysics are generally more similar to particle detectors than to optical devices. The basic design of the gamma ray instrument depends on whether the energy range is below about 10 MeV and therefore in the region where the Compton effect predominates in the absorption of the gamma-rays, or above that energy where electron-positron pair production is most important. The most usual approach to the detector system in the lower of the two energy intervals is to use a scintillation counter in the center of the detector system to absorb the photons and permit a measure of their energy, and to surround it by another detector which is employed as an active anticoincidence shield to discriminate against charged particles. In the gamma-ray interval above about 10 MeV, the very low flux of gamma rays and the high particle background has directed the development of high energy gamma-ray telescopes towards complicated techniques and large detector arrays. As a result, several investigators have now turned to the spark chamber as the heart of a detector system. Generally, it is surrounded by an anticoincidence system and is triggered by a counter telescope.

Fichtel, C. E.↗