Passive 77 GHz millimeter-wave sensor based on optical upconversion

A passive millimeter-wave (mmW) sensor operating at a frequency of 77 GHz is built and characterized. The sensor is a single pixel sensor that raster scans to create an image. Optical upconversion is used to convert the incident mmW signal into an optical signal for detection. Components were picked...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:Applied optics (2004) 2012-06, Vol.51 (18), p.4157
Main Authors: Wilson, John P, Schuetz, Christopher A, Dillon, Thomas E, Yao, Peng, Harrity, Charles E, Prather, Dennis W
Format: Article
Language:English
Citations: Items that this one cites
Items that cite this one
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:A passive millimeter-wave (mmW) sensor operating at a frequency of 77 GHz is built and characterized. The sensor is a single pixel sensor that raster scans to create an image. Optical upconversion is used to convert the incident mmW signal into an optical signal for detection. Components were picked to be representative of a single element in a distributed aperture system. The performance of the system is analyzed, and the noise equivalent temperature difference is found to be 0.5 K (for a 1 s integration time) with a diffraction limited resolution of ~8 mrad. Representative images are shown that demonstrate the phenomenology associated with this spectrum.
ISSN:1559-128X
2155-3165
DOI:10.1364/AO.51.004157