Ion Optics Scores Air Force SBIR Award for Hyperspectral Imager

Ion Optics, Inc.ce has awarded <%=company%> (Waltham, MA) a Phase II Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Award to develop a compact, high resolution, hyperspectral long wave infrared (LWIR) imager. The initial design combines an electronically-tunable, solid-state, rugged, interferometric Fabry-Perot liquid-crystal filled etalon (LCE) filter developed by Scientific Solutions, Inc. with an infrared (IR) camera.

Today's typical IR imaging devices sense radiation over a wide band of IR spectrum (for example 8 to 12 µm) and present it as a video image. Although these devices are a great for night vision and surveillance, significant IR spectral information is lost. With an electronically-tunable filter, these cameras can gather information about the chemical composition of the scene under study. Hyperspectral imaging is useful for applications involving atmospheric and geophysical remote sensing, camouflaged target recognition, as well as, the identification and mapping of chemical warfare agents.

Compared to other technologies for tunable filters, our LCE filter can tune over a broader range (better than 1.5 µm) with a narrow bandwidth (0.15 m µFWHM) and a peak transmission of 80%. The LCE filter tunes at between 50 and 100 Hz, fast enough to enable the camera to capture unique IR spectral images on sequential frames.

The camera to be produced under the contract will be lightweight, low power, rugged, small, and reliable for use in military applications such as area-wide sensing of toxic gases. The 320 x 240 pixel image provides 3 m spatial resolution at a distance of 1 km. Increasing the integration time of the camera will improve its sensitivity, enabling it to detect lower concentrations of gases.

Edited by Kristin Lewotsky