Climate Absolute Radiance and Refractivity Observatory (CLARREO) Pathfinder (CPF) mission’s Hyperspectral Imager for Climate Science (HySICS) instrument’s transmissive flight diffuser calibration is presented. The absolute Bidirectional Transmittance Distribution Function (BTDF) measurement of the transmissive diffuser is needed to calculate the instrument’s absolute efficiency. Along with a known solar irradiance source such as Total Solar Irradiance Sensor (TSIS), it can provide an absolute irradiance measurement path on orbit, with NIST traceability. This provides an additional path for CPF to cross compare with other on orbit sensors’ measurement such as Visible-Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite (VIIRS), Clouds and the Earth’s Radiant Energy System (CERES). The flight diffuser was calibrated at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC) using the Facility’s Optical Scatterometer.
Space-based astrophysical and remote sensing observations often require the detection and measurement of light originating from distant and relatively faint objects. These observations are highly susceptible to scattered light which may introduce imaging artifacts, obscure object details, and increase measurement noise. This paper describes the initial work of characterizing representative black materials used in coronagraph instruments and other spaceborne instruments. Measurements of “blackness” and the achieved reflectance of black silicon are provided in the spectral range from 400nm to 2500nm using 8o directional hemispherical measurements. The bidirectional reflectance of black silicon was also measured at discrete wavelengths, 633nm, and 1064nm, using the optical scatterometer located at NASA Goddard Space Flight Center’s Diffuser Calibration Laboratory (DCL). A 100mm diameter black silicon sample was fabricated and optically characterized. The BRDF of other well-known black materials such as Z306 and Fractal Black are also presented and discussed.
A Light-Emitting Diode (LED)-driven integrating sphere light source has been fabricated and assembled in the NASA Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC) Code 618 Biospheric Sciences Laboratory’s Calibration Facility. This light source is a 30.5 cm diameter integrating sphere lined with Spectralon. A set of four LEDs of different wavelengths are mounted on the integrating sphere’s wall ports. A National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) characterized Si detector is mounted on a port to provide real-time monitoring data for reference. The measurement results presented here include the short-term and long-term stability and polarization characterization of the output from this LED-driven integrating sphere light source. As an initial application, this light source is used to characterize detector/pre-amplifier gain linearity in light detection systems. The measurement results will be presented and discussed.
We present airborne measurements of a novel eye-safe spectrally broadband LIDAR capable of
dealing with the atmospherically-induced variations in CO2 absorption using a Fabry-Perot based detector.
The Fabry-Perot solid etalon in the receiver part is tuned to match the wavelength of several CO2 absorption
lines simultaneously. The broadband technique tremendously reduces the requirement for source wavelength
stability, instead putting this responsibility on the Fabry- Perot based receiver. The instrument technology we
are developing has a clear pathway to space and realistic potential to become a robust, low risk space
measurement system.
We present preliminary design studies and modeling results for a new system for the assessment of vegetation
photosynthetic function, especially carbon uptake.
Plant health and carbon uptake efficiency are of key consideration in assessing global productivity, biomass, changes in
land cover and carbon dioxide flux. Chlorophyll fluorescence (ChlF) measurements are critical for understanding
photosynthetic functioning, plant environmental stress responses and direct assessments of plant health. Plant ChlF
occurs predominately in two broad emission bands in the red and infrared regions of the spectrum. Unfortunately, the
fluorescence signal from vegetation is much weaker than, and obscured by, the reflected signal. This limitation can be
overcome by acquiring ChlF measurements in atmospheric absorption lines.
The Interferometric Sensor for Plant Fluorescence (ISPF) will measure plant ChlF using the Fraunhofer Line
Discrimination approach. Fabry-Perot (FP) etalons will be used to restrict the measurement to radiation in the Solar
Fraunhofer lines (SFL). An advantage of the proposed sensor design is that it will collect measurements using two sets
of SFL at the same time. This technique increases the optical throughput producing a larger signal to noise ratio (SNR).
The instrument is designed to have two channels for two different spectral regions. Each channel will have two sub-channels,
one defined by a prefilter (Reference, Ref) and the other having a tunable FP etalon. The first subchannel (the
Ref) will cover a relatively broad spectral range to include at least two Fraunhofer lines but for which the fluorescence
signal will represent only a small fraction of total reflected light. The second subchannel will use a FP interferometer to
restrict the detected light to include only the selected SFL where the ChlF in-filling is significant. A small change in the
fluorescence will then produce an insignificant change in the Ref subchannel but a relatively large change in signal from
the FP subchannel. Changes in albedo or clouds will affect both subchannels proportionally so that the ratio of FP/Ref
will be sensitive only to ChlF and almost insensitive to other parameters.
The ISPF sensor will measure the fluorescence energy emitted by vegetation under natural sunlight. Advantages of the
sensor over other designs are that it is passive (i.e., does not require an external illumination source), has simple structure
and can be manufactured in a rugged, monolithic form that has no moving parts.
A new type of remote sensing instrument based upon the Fabry-Perot interferometric technique has been
developed at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center. Fabry-Perot interferometry (FPI) is a well known,
powerful spectroscopic technique and one of its many applications is to be used to measure greenhouse gases
and also some harmful species in the atmosphere. With this technique, absorption of particular species is
measured and related to its concentration. A solid Fabry-Perot etalon is used as a frequency filter to restrict the
measurement to particular absorption bands of the gas of interest. With adjusting the thickness of the etalon that
separation (in frequency) of the transmitted fringes can be made equal to the almost constant separation of the
gas absorption lines. By adjusting the temperature of the etalon, which changes the index of refraction of its
material, the transmission fringes can be brought into nearly exact correspondence with absorption lines of the
particular species. With this alignment between absorption lines and fringes, changes in the amount of a species
in the atmosphere strongly affect the amount of light transmitted by the etalon and can be related to gas
concentration.
The instrument that we have developed detects the absorption of various atmospheric trace gases in direct or
reflected sunlight. It can be used as ground based, airborne and satellite sensor for gases such as carbon dioxide
(1570 nm), oxygen (762 nm and 768 nm lines sensitive to changes in oxygen pressure and oxygen temperature)
and water vapor (940 nm). Our current goal is to develop an ultra precise, inexpensive, ground based device
suitable for wide deployment as a validation instrument for the Orbiting Carbon Observatory (OCO) satellite.
We show measurements for CO2 and, O2, , compare our measurements to those obtained using other types of
sensors and discuss some of the peculiarities that must be addressed in order to provide the very high quality
column detection required for solving problems about global distribution of greenhouse gases and
climatological models. The recent long term experimental data on CO2 and O2 detection in atmosphere using
Fabry-Perot technique are presented and discussed.
We present preliminary experimental results, sensitivity measurements and discuss our new CO2
lidar system under development. The system is employing an erbium-doped fiber amplifier (EDFA),
superluminescent light emitting diode (SLED) as a source and our previously developed Fabry-Perot
interferometer subsystem as a detector part.
Global measurement of carbon dioxide column with the aim of discovering and quantifying
unknown sources and sinks has been a high priority for the last decade. The goal of Active Sensing of CO2
Emissions over Nights, Days, and Seasons (ASCENDS) mission is to significantly enhance the
understanding of the role of CO2 in the global carbon cycle. The National Academy of Sciences
recommended in its decadal survey that NASA put in orbit a CO2 lidar to satisfy this long standing need.
Existing passive sensors suffer from two shortcomings. Their measurement precision can be compromised
by the path length uncertainties arising from scattering within the atmosphere. Also passive sensors using
sunlight cannot observe the column at night. Both of these difficulties can be ameliorated by lidar
techniques.
Lidar systems present their own set of problems however. Temperature changes in the atmosphere
alter the cross section for individual CO2 absorption features while the different atmospheric pressures
encountered passing through the atmosphere broaden the absorption lines. Currently proposed lidars require
multiple lasers operating at multiple wavelengths simultaneously in order to untangle these effects.
Our current goal is to develop an ultra precise, inexpensive new lidar system for precise column
measurements of CO2 changes in the lower atmosphere that uses a Fabry-Perot interferometer based system
as the detector portion of the instrument and replaces the narrow band laser commonly used in lidars with
the newly available high power SLED as the source. This approach reduces the number of individual lasers
used in the system from three or more to one-considerably reducing the risk of failure. It also
tremendously reduces the requirement for wavelength stability in the source putting this responsibility
instead on the Fabry-Perot subsystem.
A passive instrument based on a Fabry-Perot interferometer was designed and used for oxygen atmospheric column absorption measurements. The instrument operates in the oxygen A-band spectral region from 759 to 771 nm. Surface solar irradiation reflected off the Earth is detected using two channels at two wavelengths—one for pressure sensing and the other for temperature sensing. Each channel of the O2 column measurement system consists of two subchannels—Fabry-Perot and reference. Solid Fabry-Perot etalons were designed and used to confine the response to the O2 absorption bands. The etalons have free spectral ranges of 0.575, 0.802, and 2.212 nm. Two narrow bandpass filters (760 to 764 and 767 to 771 nm) were also used. The instrument is sensitive to changes in oxygen column as small as 0.88 mbar for ground-based experiments and 5 mbar for airborne measurements. The major advantages of the optical setup are its compactness, high sensitivity, high signal-to-noise ratio, and stability for both ground and airborne experiments.
The FPICC (Fabry-Perot Interferometer for Column CO2) is a new instrument developed under the
Instrument Incubator Program that uses a novel technique for measuring the absorption of CO2 sunlight
reflected from the Earth. The optical setup consists of three channels. The first channel is built to measure
carbon dioxide by using a solid Fabry-Perot etalon to restrict the measurement to light in CO2 absorption
bands. The second and third channels focus on the O2 A band (759-771 nm) composed of about 300
absorption lines, which vary in strength and width according to pressure and temperature. We performed
measurements using solid Fabry-Perot etalons with different FSR and different pre-filters. We
demonstrated the instrument's significant capability to detect CO2 and O2 in laboratory, as well as in
ground based and airborne experiments. The initial tests indicate that when the instrument is used with a
sun tracker the sensitivity for CO2 detection is 2.1 ppm in one second average, and the sensitivity to the
oxygen column pressure changes is as low as 0.88 mbar. The reduced sensitivity for the airborne
experiments arises because the atmospheric scattering processes make the path length more variable and
uncertain. One solution to this problem is to use the glint reflection from water surfaces. For this purpose
we design and perform a theoretical study to build a different version of the FPICC instrument to be used
on a satellite orbiting the Earth and working in a glint mode.
This Fabry-Perot based technique is applicable to other species as well. For example one could use the
FPICC instrument for fractionations measurements of the stable carbon isotope (13C/12C). The instrument
can be used to study the atmosphere of Mars, which consists primarily of CO2. A theoretical study and
design of a version of the instrument for Mars for CO2 and CH4 measurements will be presented. We report
results on the recent calibration of the instrument, recent data from ground tests at Goddard, design
versions, and theoretical models for the Earth and Mars instruments.
We are presenting new experimental data on atmospheric carbon dioxide and oxygen column absorption collected with a passive instrument developed at Goddard Space Flight Center called FPICC (Fabry-Perot Interferometer for Column CO2). The data were recorded on board of NASA's DC-8 flight laboratory during the PAVE experiment (Polar Aura Validation Experiment), January 2005. The precise alignment of the transmission peaks of the Fabry-Perot etalon to the CO2 absorption lines is achieved through altering the refractive index of the material (fused silica) using its temperature dependence. The experimental data presented showed excellent agreement with our theoretical expectations. They are recorded at different gas pressures and temperatures and also at various weather conditions. The goal of the experiment is to demonstrate that variations of the column density of the CO2 can be detected using this passive instrument and the target precision is <0.3%. Some of the major advantages of the optical setup are its compactness, high sensitivity, high signal-to-noise ratio, and stability.
The experimental data on CO2 and O2 detection in atmosphere using Fabry-Perot technique are presented. The atmosphere's irradiance measurements are an important tool for the remote sensing study. We show results from lab, ground and flight testing of a new instrument called FPICC (Fabry-Perot Interferometer for Column CO2) which is intended for a very precise measurements of atmospheric carbon dioxide and oxygen. The optical setup consists of three channels. The first channel is built to measure the carbon dioxide. This channel operates using the reflected sunlight off the ground and solid Fabry-Perot etalon to restrict the measurement to light in CO2 absorption bands. The free spectral range of the etalon is calculated to be equal to the almost regular spacing between the CO2 spectral bands located near 1,571 μm, R band, where CO2 absorption is significant. The precise alignment of the transmission peaks of the Fabry-Perot etalon to the CO2 absorption lines is achieved through altering the refractive index of the material (fused silica) using its temperature dependence. The second and third channels foucs on the O2 A band (759 - 771 nm) composed of about 300 absorption lines, which vary in strength and width according to pressure and temperature. We performed measurements using solid Fabry-Perot etalons with different FSR and two different pre-filters. The first pre-filter selects a spectral range around 762 nm which is between the P and R branches, where the absorption coefficient is insensitive to temperature, but is sensitive to pressure changes and therefore to the variations in the O2 column. The second pre-filter is selecting several absorption bands between 765 and 770 nm, which are more sensitive to temperature changes. The experimental data presented show excellent agreement with our theoretical expectations. They are recorded at different gas pressures, temperatures and different weather conditions. Some of the major advantages of the optical setup are its compactness, high sensitivity, high signal-to-noise ratio, and stability.
The experimental data on O2 absorption using reflected sunlight and a passive Fabry-Perot technique are presented. The atmosphere's irradiance measurements are an important tool for the remote sensing study. In this work we focus on the O2 A band (759-771 nm) composed of about 300 absorption lines, which vary in strength and width according to pressure and temperature. We performed measurements using solid Fabry-Perot etalons with different FSR and two different pre-filters. The first pre-filter selects a spectral range around 763 nm which is between the P and R branches, where the absorption coefficient is insensitive to temperature, but is sensitive to pressure changes and therefore to the variations in the O2 column. The second pre-filter is selecting several absorption bands between 765 and 770 nm, which are more sensitive to temperature changes.
The optical setup consists of two channels. Channel one measure the total reflected light, whereas channel two uses a solid substrate Fabry-Perot etalon to restrict measurement to light in the O2 absorption bands. The ratio of the intensities detected by the two channels is sensitive to O2 pressure change or temperature change depending of the spectral region and is a function of the air mass, solar zenith angle and altitude. The experimental data presented shows excellent agreement with our theoretical expectations. They were recorded at different gas pressures and temperatures, and also at various weather conditions. The goal of the experiment is to demonstrate that variations of the column density of the O2 can be detected using a solid Fabry-Perot etalon. Results can be used for normalization of the other trace gases column densities, (to measure CO2 column density) because the Oxygen is well mixed throughout most of the atmosphere (to an altitude of about 100 km) and can help to interpret the influence of scattering from aerosol and clouds, polarization of the reflected light, and the reflection properties of the surface. Some of the major advantages of our optical setup are its compactness, high sensitivity, high signal-to-noise ratio and stability.
The experimental data on CO2 detection in atmosphere using Fabry-Perot technique are presented. The optical setup consists of two channels. Channel one measure the total reflected light, whereas channel two uses a solid substrate Fabry-Perot etalon to restrict measurement to light in CO2 absorption bands. The free spectral range of the etalon is calculated to be equal to the almost regular spacing between the CO2 spectral bands located near 1.58 μm, where CO2 absorption is significant. The ratio of the intensities detected by the two channels is then sensitive to CO2 change. We are exploring the temperature dependence of the index of refraction of the optical media to align the pass bands of the Fabry-Perot etalon to the appropriate CO2 absorption lines. The experimental data presented show excellent agreement with our theoretical expectations. They are recorded at different gas pressures and temperatures. Some of the major advantages of the optical setup are its compactness, high sensitivity, high signal-to-noise ratio, and stability.
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