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Search indexed NASA NTRS and DOE OSTI research on propulsion, heat transfer, battery materials and energy systems. Follow report and document links to the original sources.

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At least 343 records · Page 19
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
NASA NTRS2008

A Compact, Modular Superconducting Bolometer Array Package

We have designed a detector package to house a superconducting bolometer array, SQUID multiplexers, bias and integration circuitry, optical filtering, electrical connectors, and thermal/mechanical interfaces. This package has been used successfully in the GISMO 2mm camera, a 128-pixel camera operating at a base temperature of 270mK. Operation at lower temperatures is allowed by providing direct heat sinking to the SQUIDS and bias resistors, which generate the bulk of the dissipation in the package. Standard electrical connectors provide reliable contact while enabling quick installation and removal of the package. Careful design has gone into the compensation for differing thermal expansions, the need for heat sinking of the bolometer array, and the placement of magnetic shielding in critical areas. In this presentation, we detail the design and performance of this detector package and describe its scalability to 1280- pixel arrays in the near future.

Benford, Dominic J.↗
NASA NTRS2008

The On-Orbit Performance of the CALIOP Lidar on CALIPSO

CALIPSO is a joint NASA - CNES satellite currently in its third year of operation in low earth orbit. The satellite is making optical measurements of the Earth s atmosphere to help quantify the impact of aerosols and clouds on the Earth s radiation budget. To do this, it carries three instruments: CALIOP, a two-wavelength polarization-sensitive elastic backscatter lidar; the IIR a three band thermal imaging radiometer; and the WFC a visible single-band imager. CALIOP utilizes a Nd:YAG laser which incorporates a harmonic crystal to provide laser light at both 1064 nm and 532 nm. This beam is expanded and transmitted into the atmosphere at near nadir. The laser light scattered from clouds and aerosols back to the satellite, along with any solar background light, is collected by a one meter diameter beryllium telescope. The captured light is separated into its two wavelengths and optically filtered. The 1064 nm component is detected with an avalanche photodiode, while the 532 nm component is further resolved into two linear polarization components which are then detected by matching photomultiplier tubes. This presentation will describe the lidar and give examples of its on-orbit performance.

Winker, David↗
NASA NTRS2009

Ultra-high Temperature Emittance Measurements for Space and Missile Applications

Advanced modeling and design efforts for many aerospace components require high temperature emittance data. Applications requiring emittance data include propulsion systems, radiators, aeroshells, heatshields/thermal protection systems, and leading edge surfaces. The objective of this work is to provide emittance data at ultra-high temperatures. MSFC has a new instrument for the measurement of emittance at ultra-high temperatures, the Ultra-High Temperature Emissometer System (Ultra-HITEMS). AZ Technology Inc. developed the instrument, designed to provide emittance measurements over the temperature range 700-3500K. The Ultra-HITEMS instrument measures the emittance of samples, heated by lasers, in vacuum, using a blackbody source and a Fourier Transform Spectrometer. Detectors in a Nicolet 6700 FT-IR spectrometer measure emittance over the spectral range of 0.4-25 microns. Emitted energy from the specimen and output from a Mikron M390S blackbody source at the same temperature with matched collection geometry are measured. Integrating emittance over the spectral range yields the total emittance. The ratio provides a direct measure of total hemispherical emittance. Samples are heated using lasers. Optical pyrometry provides temperature data. Optical filters prevent interference from the heating lasers. Data for Inconel 718 show excellent agreement with results from literature and ASTM 835. Measurements taken from levitated spherical specimens provide total hemispherical emittance data; measurements taken from flat specimens mounted in the chamber provide near-normal emittance data. Data from selected characterization studies will be presented. The Ultra-HITEMS technique could advance space and missile technologies by advancing the knowledge base and the technology readiness level for ultra-high temperature materials.

Rogers, Jan↗
NASA NTRS2007

Imaging Spectrometer on a Chip

A proposed visible-light imaging spectrometer on a chip would be based on the concept of a heterostructure comprising multiple layers of silicon-based photodetectors interspersed with long-wavelength-pass optical filters. In a typical application, this heterostructure would be replicated in each pixel of an image-detecting integrated circuit of the active-pixel-sensor type (see figure). The design of the heterostructure would exploit the fact that within the visible portion of the spectrum, the characteristic depth of penetration of photons increases with wavelength. Proceeding from the front toward the back, each successive long-wavelength-pass filter would have a longer cutoff wavelength, and each successive photodetector would be made thicker to enable it to absorb a greater proportion of incident longer-wavelength photons. Incident light would pass through the first photodetector and encounter the first filter, which would reflect light having wavelengths shorter than its cutoff wavelength and pass light of longer wavelengths. A large portion of the incident and reflected shorter-wavelength light would be absorbed in the first photodetector. The light that had passed through the first photodetector/filter pair of layers would pass through the second photodetector and encounter the second filter, which would reflect light having wavelengths shorter than its cutoff wavelength while passing light of longer wavelengths. Thus, most of the light reflected by the second filter would lie in the wavelength band between the cutoff wavelengths of the first and second filters. Thus, further, most of the light absorbed in the second photodetector would lie in this wavelength band. In a similar manner, each successive photodetector would detect, predominantly, light in a successively longer wavelength band bounded by the shorter cutoff wavelength of the preceding filter and the longer cutoff wavelength of the following filter.

Wang, Yu↗
NASA NTRS2010

AlGaN Ultraviolet Detectors for Dual-Band UV Detection

This innovation comprises technology that has the ability to measure at least two ultraviolet (UV) bands using one detector without relying on any external optical filters. This allows users to build a miniature UVA and UVB monitor, as well as to develop compact, multicolor imaging technologies for flame temperature sensing, air-quality control, and terrestrial/counter-camouflage/biosensing applications.

Miko, Laddawan↗
NASA NTRS2004

Ambient-Light-Canceling Camera Using Subtraction of Frames

The ambient-light-canceling camera (ALCC) is a proposed near-infrared electronic camera that would utilize a combination of (1) synchronized illumination during alternate frame periods and (2) subtraction of readouts from consecutive frames to obtain images without a background component of ambient light. The ALCC is intended especially for use in tracking the motion of an eye by the pupil center corneal reflection (PCCR) method. Eye tracking by the PCCR method has shown potential for application in human-computer interaction for people with and without disabilities, and for noninvasive monitoring, detection, and even diagnosis of physiological and neurological deficiencies. In the PCCR method, an eye is illuminated by near-infrared light from a lightemitting diode (LED). Some of the infrared light is reflected from the surface of the cornea. Some of the infrared light enters the eye through the pupil and is reflected from back of the eye out through the pupil a phenomenon commonly observed as the red-eye effect in flash photography. An electronic camera is oriented to image the user's eye. The output of the camera is digitized and processed by algorithms that locate the two reflections. Then from the locations of the centers of the two reflections, the direction of gaze is computed. As described thus far, the PCCR method is susceptible to errors caused by reflections of ambient light. Although a near-infrared band-pass optical filter can be used to discriminate against ambient light, some sources of ambient light have enough in-band power to compete with the LED signal. The mode of operation of the ALCC would complement or supplant spectral filtering by providing more nearly complete cancellation of the effect of ambient light. In the operation of the ALCC, a near-infrared LED would be pulsed on during one camera frame period and off during the next frame period. Thus, the scene would be illuminated by both the LED (signal) light and the ambient (background) light during one frame period, and would be illuminated with only ambient (background) light during the next frame period. The camera output would be digitized and sent to a computer, wherein the pixel values of the background-only frame would be subtracted from the pixel values of the signal-plus-background frame to obtain signal-only pixel values (see figure). To prevent artifacts of motion from entering the images, it would be necessary to acquire image data at a rate greater than the standard video rate of 30 frames per second. For this purpose, the ALCC would exploit a novel control technique developed at NASA s Jet Propulsion Laboratory for advanced charge-coupled-device (CCD) cameras. This technique provides for readout from a subwindow [region of interest (ROI)] within the image frame. Because the desired reflections from the eye would typically occupy a small fraction of the area within the image frame, the ROI capability would make it possible to acquire and subtract pixel values at rates of several hundred frames per second considerably greater than the standard video rate and sufficient to both (1) suppress motion artifacts and (2) track the motion of the eye between consecutive subtractive frame pairs.

Morookian, John Michael↗
NASA NTRS2004

Photodiode-Based, Passive Ultraviolet Dosimeters

Simple, passive instruments have been developed for measuring the exposure of material specimens to vacuum ultraviolet (VUV) radiation from the Sun. Each instrument contains a silicon photodiode and a coulometer. The photocharge generated in the photodiode is stored in the coulometer. The accumulated electric charge measured by use of the coulometer is assumed to be proportional to the cumulative dose of VUV radiation expressed in such convenient units as equivalent Sun hours (ESH) [defined as the number of hours of exposure to sunlight at normal incidence]. Intended originally for use aboard spacecraft, these instruments could also be adapted to such terrestrial uses as monitoring the curing of ultraviolet-curable epoxies. Each instrument includes a photodiode and a coulometer assembly mounted on an interface plate (see figure). The photodiode assembly includes an aluminum housing that holds the photodiode, a poly(tetrafluoroehylene) cosine receptor, and a narrow-band optical filter. The cosine receptor ensures that the angular response of the instrument approximates the ideal angular response (proportional to the cosine of the angle of incidence). The filter is chosen to pass the ultraviolet wavelength of interest in a specific experiment. The photodiode is electrically connected to the coulometer. The factor of proportionality between the charge stored in the coulometer and ultraviolet dosage (in units of ESH) is established, prior to use, in calibration experiments that involve the use of lamps and current sources traceable to the National Institute of Standards and Technology.

Vaughn, Jason A.↗
NASA NTRS2014

Perkinelmer Lamda 950 Measurements in Support of Nasa's Hubble Space Telescope

We present visible spectroscopy measurements using the PerkinElmer Lambda 950 grating monochromator in support of two projects at NASA Goddard Space Flight Center. The first and primary project to be discussed is the Wide Field Planetary Camera 2 as an upgrade to the Hubble Space Telescope. Numerous optical filters were measured in the visible and near-infrared regions to experimentally vet the theoretical prediction upon which the filters were engineered. The second topic of our presentation will cover the measurement of SNAP prototype filters from three venders (ASAHI, BARR and JDSU) with applications towards NASAs the Joint Dark Energy Mission (JDEM).

Perkin Elmer Lambda 950↗
NASA NTRS1998

Compact Doppler Magnetograph

Here we present a design for a high-performance, compact, low-cost flight instrument that measures velocity and magnetic fields on the photospere. This instrument is called the Compact Doppler Magnetograph, or CDM, and is based on the magneto-optical filter invented by A. Cacciani.

Doppler↗
NASA NTRSDate not supplied

PACE OCI Short-Wave Infrared Detection Assembly frequency-dependent linearity characterization and uncertainty analysis

The Ocean Color Instrument (OCI), the primary payload of the Plankton, Aerosol, Cloud, ocean Ecosystem (PACE)observatory, will collect data to monitor the health of Earth’s oceans and atmosphere. The Short-Wave Infrared(SWIR) Detection Assembly (SDA) was built and characterized by the Utah State University Space DynamicsLaboratory (SDL) and is a subsystem of OCI. The SDA measures seven bands centered at 940, 1038, 1250, 1378,1615, 2130, and 2260 nm, with standard- and high-gain varieties for the 1250 and 1615 nm bands, resulting in nine total detection configurations in the SWIR. The delivery of high-quality science data is critically dependent upon accurately characterizing the linearity of the SDA. Two metrology techniques were employed to measure the linearity and characterize the frequency-dependent linearity uncertainty of the system. The first technique used superposition linearity measurements to determine the DC linearity, and the second technique involved an oscillating small-signal response at seven frequencies to determine the frequency-dependent linearity. Discrepancies between the DC and frequency-dependent linearities constrain the uncertainty between the two. Examining the difference between these two methods for all SDA channels, we find most channels experience an uncertainty below0.2% with a worst-case measurement uncertainty of 0.31%. Averaging SDA channels with similar detectors, optical filters, and electronics to simulate the flight-like data products yields a worst-case frequency-dependence linearity uncertainty of 0.12%, demonstrating minimal frequency dependence, implying an excellent linearity knowledge.Detailed performance knowledge, including linearity performance, verifies data quality and builds confidence in the success of the PACE mission.

PACE↗
DOE OSTI2022

System and method for remote detection and location of gas leaks

A system for monitoring for a gas leak from a gas containing structure is disclosed. The system includes a lens that directs an image of a scene of interest through an optical filter onto a detector. The filter is associated with the lens and the filter has one or more passbands that passes wavelengths which match one or more emission or reflectively wavelengths of the gas being monitored. A detector receives the image after the image passes through the lens and the filter. The detector generates image data representing the scene including the gas containing structure. A processor is configured to process the image data by executing machine executable code stored on a memory. The machine executable code processes the image data to identify turbulence flows in the image data such that turbulence flow indicates a gas leak, and generate and send an alert in response to the identification of a turbulence flow.

O'Neill, Mary D.↗
NASA NTRS1990

Optical calculation of correlation filters

A method is presented for designing optical correlation filters based on measuring intensity patterns in the Fourier plane. The method can be used in general to design any type of frequency plane filter but is especially attractive in the case of a binary phase only filter (BPOF). The method can produce a filter that is well matched to both the object, its transforming optical system and the spatial light modulator used in the correlator input plane. A working filter was produced using the technique, but the filter response was weak. The suspected causes of the weak output are imprecise Fourier plane positioning, nonlinearities in the recording process, and/or aliasing effects.

Knopp, Jerome↗
NASA NTRS1990

Velocity filtering applied to optical flow calculations

Optical flow is a method by which a stream of two-dimensional images obtained from a forward-looking passive sensor is used to map the three-dimensional volume in front of a moving vehicle. Passive ranging via optical flow is applied here to the helicopter obstacle-avoidance problem. Velocity filtering is used as a field-based method to determine range to all pixels in the initial image. The theoretical understanding and performance analysis of velocity filtering as applied to optical flow is expanded and experimental results are presented.

Barniv, Yair↗
NASA NTRS1994

Optical Correlator Performs Novelty Filtering

Experimental real-time optical correlator performs correlation and novelty filtering in photorefractive crystal. Crystal oriented enabling cross-polarization diffraction: together with polarizing beam splitter, increases signal-to-noise ratio. Laser and optical components expand, collimate, and divide laser beam.

Liu, Duncan Tsuen-Hsi↗
NASA NTRS2007

Multispectral Imager With Improved Filter Wheel and Optics

Figure 1 schematically depicts an improved multispectral imaging system of the type that utilizes a filter wheel that contains multiple discrete narrow-band-pass filters and that is rotated at a constant high speed to acquire images in rapid succession in the corresponding spectral bands. The improvement, relative to prior systems of this type, consists of the measures taken to prevent the exposure of a focal-plane array (FPA) of photodetectors to light in more than one spectral band at any given time and to prevent exposure of the array to any light during readout. In prior systems, these measures have included, variously the use of mechanical shutters or the incorporation of wide opaque sectors (equivalent to mechanical shutters) into filter wheels. These measures introduce substantial dead times into each operating cycle intervals during which image information cannot be collected and thus incoming light is wasted. In contrast, the present improved design does not involve shutters or wide opaque sectors, and it reduces dead times substantially. The improved multispectral imaging system is preceded by an afocal telescope and includes a filter wheel positioned so that its rotation brings each filter, in its turn, into the exit pupil of the telescope. The filter wheel contains an even number of narrow-band-pass filters separated by narrow, spoke-like opaque sectors. The geometric width of each filter exceeds the cross-sectional width of the light beam coming out of the telescope. The light transmitted by the sequence of narrow-band filters is incident on a dichroic beam splitter that reflects in a broad shorter-wavelength spectral band that contains half of the narrow bands and transmits in a broad longer-wavelength spectral band that contains the other half of the narrow spectral bands. The filters are arranged on the wheel so that if the pass band of a given filter is in the reflection band of the dichroic beam splitter, then the pass band of the adjacent filter is in the longer-wavelength transmission band of the dichroic beam splitter (see Figure 2). Each of the two optical paths downstream of the dichroic beam splitter contains an additional broad-band-pass filter: The filter in the path of the light transmitted by the dichroic beam splitter transmits and attenuates in the same bands that are transmitted and reflected, respectively, by the beam splitter; the filter in the path of the light reflected by the dichroic beam splitter transmits and attenuates in the same bands that are reflected and transmitted, respectively, by the dichroic beam splitter. In each of these paths, the filtered light is focused onto an FPA. As the filter wheel rotates at a constant angular speed, its shaft angle is monitored, and the shaft-angle signal is used to synchronize the exposure times of the two FPAs. When a single narrowband-pass filter on the wheel occupies the entire cross section of the beam of light coming out of the telescope, the spectrum of light that reaches the dichroic beam splitter lies entirely within the pass band of that filter. Therefore, the beam in its entirety is either transmitted by the dichroic beam splitter and imaged on the longer-wavelength FPA or reflected by the beam splitter and imaged onto the shorter-wavelength FPA.

Bremer, James C.↗
NASA NTRS2015

Double-Diffusive Convection During Growth of Halides and Selenides

Heavy metal halides and selenides have unique properties which make them excellent materials for chemical, biological and radiological sensors. Recently it has been shown that selenohalides are even better materials than halides or selenides for gamma-ray detection. These materials also meet the strong needs of a wide band imaging technology to cover ultra-violet (UV), midwave infrared wavelength (MWIR) to very long wavelength infrared (VLWIR) region for hyperspectral imager components such as etalon filters and acousto-optic tunable filters (AO). In fact AOTF based imagers based on these materials have some superiority than imagers based on liquid crystals, FTIR, Fabry-Perot, grating, etalon, electro-optic modulation, piezoelectric and several other concepts. For example, broadband spectral and imagers have problems of processing large amount of information during real-time observation. Acousto-Optic Tunable Filter (AOTF) imagers are being developed to fill the need of reducing processing time of data, low cost operation and key to achieving the goal of covering long-wave infrared (LWIR). At the present time spectral imaging systems are based on the use of diffraction gratings are typically used in a pushbroom or whiskbroom mode. They are mostly used in systems and acquire large amounts of hyperspectral data that is processed off-line later. In contrast, acousto-optic tunable filter spectral imagers require very little image processing, providing new strategies for object recognition and tracking. They are ideally suited for tactical situations requiring immediate real-time image processing. But the performance of these imagers depends on the quality and homogeneity of acousto-optic materials. In addition for many systems requirements are so demanding that crystals up to sizes of 10 cm length are desired. We have studied several selenides and halide crystals for laser and AO imagers for MWIR and LWIR wavelength regions. We have grown and fabricated crystals of several materials such as mercurous chloride, mercurous bromide, mercurous iodide, lead chloride lead bromide, lead iodide, thallium arsenic selenide, gallium selenide, zince sulfide zinc selenide and several crystals into devices. We have used both Bridgman and physical vapor transport (PVT) crystal growth methods. In the past have examined PVT growth numerically for conditions where the boundary of the enclosure is subjected to a nonlinear thermal profile. Since past few months we have been working on binary and ternary materials such as selenoiodides, doped zinc sulfides and mercurous chloro bromide and mercurous bromoiodides. In the doped and ternary materials thermal and solutal convection play extremely important role during the growth. Very commonly striations and banding is observed. Our experiments have indicated that even in highly purified source materials, homogeneity in 1-g environment is very difficult. Some of our previous numerical studies have indicated that gravity level less than 10-4 (-g) helps in controlling the thermosolutal convection. We will discuss the ground based growth results of HgClxBr(1-x) and ZnSe growth results for the mm thick to large cm size crystals. These results will be compared with our microgravity experiments performed with this class of materials. For both HgCl-HgBr and ZnS-ZnSe the lattice parameters of the mixtures obey Vagard's law in the studied composition range. The study demonstrates that properties are very anisotropic with crystal orientation, and performance achievement requires extremely careful fabrication to utilize highest figure of merit. In addition, some parameters such as crystal growth fabrication, processing time, resolution, field of view and efficiency will be described based on novel solid solution materials. It was predicted that very similar to the pure compounds solid solutions also have very large anisotropy, and very precise oriented and homogeneous bulk and thin film crystals is required to achieve maximum performance of laser or imagers. Some of the parameters controlling the homogeneity such as thermos-solutal convection driven forces can be controlled in microgravity environments to utilize the benefits of these unique materials.

Singh, N. B.↗
DOE OSTI2022

Correcting for digital image correlation speckle inversion at high temperature using color cameras

Digital image correlation (DIC) is a popular, noncontacting technique to measure full-field deformation by using cameras to track the motion of an applied surface pattern. Because it is noncontacting, DIC can be performed for extreme temperature applications (e.g., hot-fire rocket testing of carbon composite rocket nozzles) under harsh conditions during which bonded gauges are damaged. Speckle pattern inversion is a phenomenon that sometimes occurs while performing high-temperature DIC. During speckle pattern inversion, portions of the surface pattern that were initially darker at room temperature (e.g., graphite) may emit more light due to blackbody radiation than the portions that were initially paler, thereby producing images in which the pattern appears inverted at high temperature relative to the initial pattern at room temperature. This phenomenon can prevent the correlation algorithm from being able to resolve the displacements between images. This work compares three methods to mitigate speckle pattern inversion: (A) the subtraction method, a recently-published technique in which two high-temperature images are subtracted to remove unwanted light; (B) the filtering method, a popular technique in which optical bandpass filters screen out unwanted light; and (C) the histogram rescaling method, a proposed new method that pairs a color camera with a blue light source and uses information from the green sensor of the camera to correct against inversion in the blue sensor through postprocessing. The histogram rescaling method is shown to successfully eliminate speckle pattern inversion and has the added advantages that it does not require quasi-static loading to be able to compensate for speckle pattern inversion, nor does it impose thick-glass distortions caused by the optical filter.

Rowley, Lindsey J.↗
NASA NTRS1989

Optical calculation of correlation filters for a robotic vision system

A method is presented for designing optical correlation filters based on measuring three intensity patterns: the Fourier transform of a filter object, a reference wave and the interference pattern produced by the sum of the object transform and the reference. The method can produce a filter that is well matched to both the object, its transforming optical system and the spatial light modulator used in the correlator input plane. A computer simulation was presented to demonstrate the approach for the special case of a conventional binary phase-only filter. The simulation produced a workable filter with a sharp correlation peak.

Knopp, Jerome↗