TOPIC: S1 Sensors, Detectors, and Instruments

• Flight qualified, radiation hardened fiber optic components for high power fiber amplifier packages at 1064 nm. Pulse energies in the hundreds of microJoules, and even milliJoule-level, are needed.
  
• Fiber optic components specifically for use with Yb-doped photonic crystal fibers (PCF), to permit removal of any bulk optics or air gaps in fiber amplifier systems that use a PCF amplifier stage. The following specific components are needed: standard multimode or singlemode fiber to PCF connections, pump couplers for 915 nm or 980 nm, high power isolators at 1064 nm, 1064 nm filters, fiber combiners, and fiber splitters.
  
• Development of polarization maintaining Er and/or Yb doped optical fibers that are optimized for suppression of stimulated Brillouin scattering (SBS). Resulting fiber must be capable of single frequency (< 1MHz linewidth), peak power of one kW or higher, and M2 beam quality < 1.3.
  
• Gravitational wave detection in space uses laser interferometric techniques to measure picometer distance changes over megameter baselines. The application requires a space-qualifiable high reliability frequency-stabilized CW laser source with 1 W output power and a 5 year mission lifetime. A Master Oscillator Power Amplifier (MOPA) configuration is desirable because the source must be phase-modulated.
  
• Efficient and compact single frequency solid state or fiber lasers operating at 1.5 and 2.0 micron wavelength regimes suitable for coherent lidar applications. These lasers must meet the following general requirements: pulse energy 0.2 mJ to 100 mJ, repetition rate 10 Hz to 1 kHz, and pulse duration of approximately 200 nsec.
  
• Single frequency semiconductor or fiber laser generating 10s of mW of CW power in 1.5 or 2.0 micron wavelength regions with less than 100 kHz linewidth. Frequency modulation with about 5 GHz bandwidth and wavelength tuning over several nanometers are desirable.
  
• Interferometer technology to separately derive aerosol and molecular backscatter via High Spectral Resolution Lidar (HSRL) technique at 532 and 355 nm. Resolving power of the order of 1 GHz over an acceptance angle up to several milliradians is required. High quantum efficiency detectors, such as electron multiplying CCDs, suitable for spaceborne HSRL instruments are also needed. Detectors should be capable of rapid sampling rates greater than 1.5 MHz at 532 and 355 nm operating wavelengths.
  

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• Lightweight deployable L-band antenna structures and deployment mechanisms suitable for large aperture (reflectors or phased array of 50m² and larger) systems.
  
• Compact (probably sub-optimal), P-band antennas (possibly folded-dipole arrays, etc.) for airborne and spaceborne systems.
  
• Rad-hard, high-efficiency, low-cost, lightweight L- and P-band Transmit/Receive (TR) modules (~250 W peak RF output power at ~100 us pulsewidth and 20% duty cycle) with respective energy storage unit to provide pulsed DC power to the power amplifier while minimizing ripple on the primary DC power source.
  
• 12-bit, 1 GSps, 500MHz analog bandwidth ADCs and digital filtering with an emphasis on rad-tolerance and space-qualification.
  
• Implementation of radar transmitters/receivers using digital signal synthesis.
  

• Lightweight deployable reflectors (Ku-band and Ka-band) and active feed electronics.
  
• High efficiency Ka-band (34-36GHz) TR modules with output power of 5-10W. The LNAs should have a NF less than 3dB and gain better than 30dB. Included in the TR module is a low loss phase shifter.
  
• Power amplifier and associated LNA for a Ka-band (34-36GHz) radar system with a peak output power of 2KW to 10KW (duty cycle of 10%) and system bandwidth of up to 1 GHz and LNA NF of less than 1.5dB. The LNA needs to have enough isolation and power handling capability to operate in this high power transmission environment.
  
• Wide-bandwidth (~500 MHz BW), high-efficiency, rad-tolerant linear FM (chirp) signal generators (sweep rates ~500 MHz in 10 us).
  
• High performance, low power, compact, rad-hard, real-time radar processors, FPGA based digital receivers, SAR data processing algorithms and data reduction techniques.
  

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• Low power >200 Mb/s 1-bit A/D converters and cross-correlators for microwave interferometers;
  
• Automated assembly of 180 GHz direct conversion I-Q receiver modules;
  
• Low power, tunable, local oscillators from 400 to 600 GHz with 4-5 mW output power;
  
• Low noise (<2000 K DSB), compactly designed (< 8 cm³), heterodyne mixers requiring low local oscillator drive power (<2 mW) with RF input frequency between 100 GHz to 1 THz;
  
• Low DC power spectrometers covering 500 MHz with 125 kHz resolution;
  
• Highly stable variable correlated noise sources for calibrating correlation-type receivers;
  
• MMIC Low Noise Amplifiers (LNA). Room temperature LNAs for 165 to 193 GHz with low 1/f noise, and a noise figure of 6.0 dB or better; and cryogenic LNAs for 180 to 270 GHz with noise temperatures of less than 150K;
  
• High emissivity (near-black-body, >40 dB return loss) surfaces/structures for use as onboard calibration targets that will reduce the weight of aluminum core targets, while reliably improving the uniformity and knowledge of the calibration target temperature;
  
• New approaches, concepts, and techniques for microwave radiometer system calibration over or within the 1-700 GHz frequency band which provide end-to-end calibration to better than 0.1K, including corrections for temperature changes, standing waves, linearity, and other potential sources of instrumental measurement drift and error;
  
• RF (GHz to THz) MEMS switches with low insertion loss (< 0.5 dB), high isolation (>18 dB), capable of switching with speeds of >100 Hz at cryogenic temperatures (below 10 K) for 108 or more cycles;
  
• Lightweight deployable L-band antenna structures and deployment mechanisms suitable for large aperture (reflectors or phased array of 50m² and larger) systems;
  
• Dual-polarization multi-frequency micropatch array antenna designs for combinations of frequencies in the C-, X-, or K-bands.
  

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• 0.1-1 µm: Increased sensitivity and larger array size. Improved silicon response in the UV and NIR, smart pixel arrays, solar blind response detector arrays, energy resolving calorimeter arrays.
  
• 1-4 µm: Increased sensitivity and larger array size. Large format cryogenic readout multiplexers, large format (>1000x1000) array hybridization techniques.
  
• 4-40 µm: Increased sensitivity and larger array size (megapixels). Low power cryogenic multiplexers, new sensor materials (e.g., novel dopants for extrinsic Si detectors).
  
• 40-200 µm: Increased sensitivity and larger array size (megapixels). Monolithic focal plane arrays (BIB technologies, new sensor materials).
  
• 200 µm - 1 mm: Noise equivalent power (NEP) of 10^-20W Hz^-1/2 in a 1,000 pixel spectroscopic array with low-power readout electronics, and NEP 10^-18 W Hz^-1/2 in a 10,000 pixel photometric imaging array. Capabilities for photon counting, polarimetry, and energy resolving detection. Heterodyne receiver arrays operating near the quantum limit.
  

• Efficient, flight qualifiable, spur free, local oscillators for SIS mixers operating in low Earth orbit. Two bands: (1) tunable from 200 to 250 GHz, and (2) tunable from 610 to 650 GHz. Phase-locked to or derived from ultra-stable 5 MHz reference. 
  
• Technologies for calibrating millimeter wave spectrometers for spaceborne missions, including:
  
  • Low power, flight qualifiable comb generators for gain, linearity, and sideband calibration of microwave spectrometers covering the bands from 180 to 270 GHz and from 600 to 660 GHz; 
    
  • Flight qualifiable low noise diodes for the bands from 180 to 270 and 600 to 660 GHz;
    
  • Very low return loss (70 dB or better) calibration targets;
    
  • Techniques for quantifying and calibrating out the impact of standing waves in broadband heterodyne submillimeter spectrometers.
    
• Low power, stable, linear, spectrometers covering the band from 6-18 GHz with 100 MHz resolution.
  

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• Large-format focal plane detectors for use in UV and X-ray imaging and spectrometry:
  
  • Microchannel-plate UV detectors: up to 109 readout channels; quantum efficiency up to 50%;
    
  • UV-sensitive CCD and active pixel sensors with large formats: to 6k x 6k abuttable; extended UV response below 0.2 nm;
    
  • X-ray-sensitive CCD and active pixel sensors: up to 4k x 4k formats, 4-side abuttable; power levels of 0.1 W / Megapixel; resolutions less than 120 eV; readout rates of at least 30 Hz; extended x-ray response above 6 keV.
    
• Very-large-area X-ray detectors for survey instruments: square-meter area capability; response from 3-30 keV; ultra-low power (10 microW/channel).
  
• Significant improvements in wide band gap materials, individual detectors, and detector arrays for UV and EUV applications. Specific examples include AlGaN and SiC based detector arrays and associated readout systems.
  
• Mega-to-Giga-Channel analogue electronic systems for very-large-area X- and gamma-ray detectors as follows: up to 108 channel capability; less than 10 microW/channel power requirement; less than 100 electron rms noise level with interconnects.
  

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• Self-calibrating scalar-vector magnetometer for future Earth and space science missions. Performance goals: dynamic range: +/-100,000 nT, accuracy with self-calibration: 1 nT, sensitivity: 5 pT / sqrtHz,Max, max sensor unit size: 6 x 6 x 12 cm, max sensor mass: 0.6 kg, max electronics unit size: 8 x 13 x 5 cm, max electronics mass: 1 kg, and max power: 5 W operation, 0.5 W standby, including, but not limited to “sensors on a chip”.
  
• High-magnetic-field sensor that measures magnetic field magnitudes to 16 Gauss with an accuracy of 1 part 105.
  
• Strong, lightweight, thin, compactly-stowed electric field booms possibly using composite materials that deploy sensors to distances of 10m or more.
  
• Cooled (-60ºC) solid state ion detector capable of operating at a floating potential of -15 kV relative to ground.
  
• Low noise magnetic materials for advanced magnetometer sensors with performance equal to or better than those in the 6-81.3 Mo-Permalloy family.
  
• Radiation hardened ASIC spectrum analyzer module that determines mass spectra using fast algorithm deconvolution to produce ion counts for specific ion species.
  
• Low cost, low power, high voltage power supplies 5-15 kV.
  
• Low power charge sensitive preamplifiers on a chip.
  
• High efficiency (5% or greater) conversion surfaces for low energy neutral atom conversion to ions possibly based on nanotechnology.
  
• Long wire boom (>= 50 m) deployment systems for the deployment of very lightweight tethers or antennae on spinning spacecraft.
  
• Systems to determine the orthogonality of a deployed electric field boom system in flight (for use with three-axis rigid 10-m booms) accurate to 0.1 degrees dynamic.
  

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• Essentially vibration-free cooling systems such as reverse Brayton cycle cooler technologies with cooling capability of 20 mW at 4K.
  
• Highly efficient magnetic and dilution cooling technologies under 1 Kelvin.
  
• Components for advanced magnetic coolers (adiabatic demagnetization refrigerators) including:
  
  • Small (few cm bore), lightweight, low current (under 10A, goal under 5A) superconducting magnets capable of producing at least 3 Tesla central field while operating at least 10 Kelvin. Higher temperature superconductor (HTS) magnets operating at significantly higher temperatures are of particular interest.
    
  • Lightweight (relative to standard ferromagnetic flux guides) active and/or passive magnetic shielding for 3 to 4 Tesla magnets that reduces the stray field to tens of microTesla at a distance of several cm from the outside of the shield.
    
  • Large (several cm) single crystals of magnetocaloric materials.
    
  • Superconducting current leads operating between 90 Kelvin down to 10 Kelvin, capable of carrying up to 10 amperes while allowing only approximately 1 mW of heat to be conducted.
    
  • Compact, accurate, easy to use thermometers that operate down to 10 milliKelvin.
    

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• Atmospheric measurements including temperature, humidity, solar radiation, clouds, liquid water, ice, precipitation, chemical composition (carbon dioxide, methane, reactive gases and radicals, dynamical tracer species), and aerosol properties;
  
• Three-dimensional wind measurements near the Earth’s surface, and within the troposphere and lower stratosphere;
  
• Oceanic measurements including inherent and apparent optical properties, temperature, salinity, chemical composition, nutrient distribution, and currents.
  

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• X-Ray Diffraction and X-Ray Fluorescence (XRD/XRF) instruments, with capabilities beyond those currently planned for the CHEMIN instrument on the Mars Science Laboratory (MSL - 2009), with a focus on elemental and mineralogical analysis in the Venus surface environment (90 bars CO₂, 450ºC).
  
• Scanning electron microscopy with chemical analysis capability.
  
• Mass spectrometry/Gas chromatography with improved capabilities over the SAM instrument on MSL or applicability to in situ atmospheric measurements on Venus or Titan.
  
• Geochronology, with a focus on isotopic dating of planetary surfaces in the 100 Ma to 4.5 Ga timeframe with better than 10% accuracy.
  
• Gamma-Ray Spectroscopy, with a focus in short duration (<1 hr) measurements that could be made from a rover or Venus surface lander.
  
• X-Ray Photoelectron Spectroscopy (XPS) and Auger Electron Spectroscopy (AES)
  

• Instrumentation focused on assessments of the identification and characterization of biomarkers of extinct or extant life, such as prebiotic molecules, complex organic molecules, biomolecules, or biominerals. At this time we are not soliciting DNA and RNA analysis techniques.
  
• High sensitivity (femtomole or better) characterization of molecular structure, chirality, and isotopic composition of biogenic elements (H, C, N, O, S) embodied within individual compounds and structures.
  

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