Abstract
A prototype infrared (IR) acousto-optic tunable filter (AOTF)-based point spectrometer has been designed for examining and analyzing potential biological samples collected in situ from the planets or other solar system objects. The reflectance spectrometer operates at a wavelength range of 1.6 to 3.6 μm, which is diagnostic of minerals and organics, and inspects a 1-mm sized spot on the sample. The tuning component is the AOTF that has been utilized in a variety of spectral detection applications. The instrument’s specification and design approach including the selected components is described. The data acquisition system, the electronic components, and their interconnections are presented. The instrument’s radiometric performance is examined and described by a noise equivalent reflectance value of 0.13% that is obtained from the laboratory measurements. The device has been demonstrated by measuring the reflectance spectra for a variety of geological samples and comparing the results with the United States Geological Survey data.
Highlights
Infrared (IR) reflectance spectroscopy is a powerful diagnostic tool for analyzing the composition of a reflecting surface
IR spectroscopy is applied in chemical and physical analyses, remote sensing, astronomy, and various industrial applications
New Mexico State University (NMSU) teamed with NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC) to develop a joint instrument comprised of an IR reflectance pointspectrometer (PS) and a laser desorption time-of-flight mass spectrometer (LDTOF-MS)
Summary
Infrared (IR) reflectance spectroscopy is a powerful diagnostic tool for analyzing the composition of a reflecting surface. An example of AOTF-based spectroscopy is the configurablebandwidth imaging spectrometer based on an AOTF that was presented in Ref. 12 This is an autonomous tunable filtering system, where the AOTF was used to select different spectral wavelengths in both the visible and NIR range for sequential imaging. In this case, the RF signal input to the AOTF was generated by a direct digital synthesizer (DDS) that optimizes the RF power for each wavelength. The wavelength range covered was 0.45 to 0.8 μm Another example of an imaging instrument is described in Ref. 13, where the AOTF was combined with a liquid-crystal variable retardation plate, a CCD camera and the required optics to allow spectropolarimetric image collection. Details of the PS/LDTOF-MS pairing arrangement, mission comments, and initial PS measurements made with breadboard prototypes can be found in the previous publications.[1,16]
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