The Low-Background Infrared (LBIR) facility at NIST has recently completed construction of an infrared transfer radiometer with an integrated cryogenic Fourier transform spectrometer (Cryo-FTS). This mobile system can be deployed to customer sites for broadband and spectral calibrations of space chambers and low-background HWIL testbeds. The Missile Defense Transfer Radiometer (MDXR) has many of the capabilities of a complete IR calibration facility and will replace our existing filter-based transfer radiometer (BXR) as the NIST standard detector deployed to MDA facilities. The MDXR features numerous improvements over the BXR, including: a cryogenic Fourier transform spectrometer, an on-board absolute cryogenic radiometer (ACR), an internal blackbody reference, and an integrated collimator. The Cryo-FTS can be used to measure high resolution spectra from 4 to 20 micrometers, using a Si:As blocked-impurity-band (BIB) detector. The on-board ACR can be used for self-calibration of the MDXR BIB as well as for absolute measurements of infrared sources. A set of filter wheels and a rotating polarizer within the MDXR allow for filter-based and polarization-sensitive measurements. The optical design of the MDXR makes both radiance and irradiance measurements possible and enables calibration of both divergent and collimated sources. Details of the various MDXR components will be presented as well as initial testing data on their performance.

Date Published: 23 April 2010
PDF: 9 pages
Proc. SPIE 7663, Technologies for Synthetic Environments: Hardware-in-the-Loop Testing XV, 76630J (23 April 2010); doi: 10.1117/12.850384

Published in SPIE Proceedings Vol. 7663:
Technologies for Synthetic Environments: Hardware-in-the-Loop Testing XV
James A. Buford Jr.; Robert Lee Murrer Jr., Editor(s)