Project Title:

Spaceborne Multispectral Imager

Ciencia, Inc.
111 Roberts St.
East Hartford, CT 06108

93-1-08     19   9737

Spaceborne Multispectral Imager

Abstract:

The proposed program contains two innovations to improve the
useability of acousto-optic tunable filters (AOTF's). The first
is the use of a  phased array for the acoustic transducer to
achieve acoustic wavefront steering. This will permit real-time
control of bandwidth. The technique can be applied to existing
non-collinear AOTF's such as TeO2. The second innovation is the
use of amorphous polymer materials instead of crystals as the
acousto-optic medium. By inducing birefringence in the polymer,
material optical properties can be changed in real time. Each of
these innovations would provide the ability to control bandwidth
based on the measuring conditions rather than have the bandwidth
increase as the square of the wavelength as is presently the case
in today's AOTF's and liquid crystal tunable filters. These
innovations would make AOTF's useful for spectral imaging for
Earth observation.

Medical diagnostic imaging instrumentation such as flow and
imaging cytometers is a growing field in cancer and aids
diagnosis that would utilize the proposed technology. The
instrumentation proposed can be readily adapted to industrial
process analysis such as in chemical vapor deposition of
electronic components and quality assurance in chemical
processing, pharmaceutical manufacturing and food processing.

spectral imaging, AOTF, bandwidth, EOS