Far field millimeter-wave imaging via optical upconversion

Jesse P. Samluk; Christopher A. Schuetz; E. Lee Stein Jr.; Andrew Robbins; Daniel G. Mackrides; Richard D. Martin; Caihua Chen; Dennis W. Prather

doi:10.1117/12.778336

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18 April 2008 Far field millimeter-wave imaging via optical upconversion

Jesse P. Samluk; Christopher A. Schuetz; E. Lee Stein Jr.; Andrew Robbins; Daniel G. Mackrides; Richard D. Martin; Caihua Chen; Dennis W. Prather

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Proceedings Volume 6948, Passive Millimeter-Wave Imaging Technology XI; 694804 (2008) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.778336
Event: SPIE Defense and Security Symposium, 2008, Orlando, Florida, United States

Abstract

Millimeter-wave imaging has the unique potential to penetrate through poor weather and atmospheric conditions and create a high-resolution image. In pursuit of this goal, we have implemented a far-field imaging system that is based on optical upconversion techniques. Our imaging system is passive, in which all native blackbody radiation that is emitted from the object being scanned is detected by a Cassegrain antenna on a rotating gimbal mount. The signal received by the Cassegrain is passed to an optical modulator which transfers the radiation onto sidebands of a near-infrared optical carrier frequency. The signal is then passed to a low-frequency photodetector that converts remaining sideband energy to a photocurrent. Even though optical upconversion can produce loss, our system demonstrates low noise equivalent powers (NEP) due to the low-noise of the photodetection process. Herein, we present our experimental results and images obtained by using the far-field scanning system, which was assembled with commercially available components. In addition, we detail efforts to increase the resolution of the image and to compact the imaging system as a whole.

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Jesse P. Samluk, Christopher A. Schuetz, E. Lee Stein Jr., Andrew Robbins, Daniel G. Mackrides, Richard D. Martin, Caihua Chen, and Dennis W. Prather "Far field millimeter-wave imaging via optical upconversion", Proc. SPIE 6948, Passive Millimeter-Wave Imaging Technology XI, 694804 (18 April 2008); https://doi.org/10.1117/12.778336

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