Calibration Systems Final Report

The Calibration Systems project at Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL) is aimed towards developing and demonstrating compact Quantum Cascade (QC) laser-based calibration systems for infrared imaging systems. These on-board systems will improve the calibration technology for passive sensors, which enable stand-off detection for the proliferation or use of weapons of mass destruction, by replacing on-board blackbodies with QC laser-based systems. This alternative technology can minimize the impact on instrument size and weight while improving the quality of instruments for a variety of missions. The potential of replacing flight blackbodies is made feasible by the high output, stability, and repeatability of the QC laser spectral radiance

FY 2005 Quantum Cascade Laser Alignment System Final Report

The Alignment Lasers Task of Pacific Northwest National Laboratory's (PNNL's) Remote Spectroscopy Project (Project PL211I) is a co-funded project between DOE NA-22 and a Classified Client. This project, which began in the second half of FY03, involved building and delivering a Quantum Cascade (QC) Laser Alignment System to be used for testing the pupil alignment of an infrared sensor by measuring the response from four pairs of diametrically opposed QC lasers. PNNL delivered the system in FY04 and provided technical assistance in FY05 culminating into a successful demonstration of the system. This project evolved from the Laser Development Task of PL211I, which is involved in developing novel laser technology to support development of advanced chemical sensors for detecting the proliferation of nuclear weapons. The laser systems are based on quantum cascade (QC) lasers, a new semiconductor source in the infrared. QC lasers can be tailored to emit light throughout the infrared region (3.5 ? 17 ?m) and have high output power and stability. Thus, these lasers provide an infrared source with superb power and spectral stability enabling them to be used for applications such as alignment and calibration in addition to chemical sensing

Classical dynamical studies of hydrogen fluoride dimer photodissociation

Includes bibliographical references (pages 52-53)The purpose of this work is to examine the use of the classical dynamical methods in the study of the photodissociation of the hydrogen fluoride dimer. A suitable potential energy surface is chosen for the hydrogen fluoride dimer system, and a Hamiltonian and several methods of choosing the initial conditions are explored. The predissociation lifetime results from the model are compared with experimental and other theoretical results. The product distribution for varying excitations is also examined. The implications of the energy transfer mechanism are discussed. The Quasiclassical and Wigner methods predict predissociation lifetimes much closer to experimentally observed values than those derived from colinear models; however, the rotational disstrabutions are limited to low values of J. The Rainbow calculation predicts a much broader rotational distribution with peaks at J vaules of two, four and eight. This result indicates a strong coupling between the translational and rotational modes.M.S. (Master of Science

FY2008 Calibration Systems Final Report

The Calibrations project has been exploring alternative technologies for calibration of passive sensors in the infrared (IR) spectral region. In particular, we have investigated using quantum cascade lasers (QCLs) because these devices offer several advantages over conventional blackbodies such as reductions in size and weight while providing a spectral source in the IR with high output power. These devices can provide a rapid, multi-level radiance scheme to fit any nonlinear behavior as well as a spectral calibration that includes the fore-optics, which is currently not available for on-board calibration systems

Fiscal Year 2007

Remote infrared (IR) sensing provides a valuable method for detection and identification of materials associated with nuclear proliferation. Current challenges for remote sensors include minimizing the size, mass, and power requirements for cheaper, smaller, and more deployable instruments without affecting the measurement performance. One area that is often overlooked is sensor calibration design that is optimized to minimize the cost, size, weight, and power of the payload. Yet, an on-board calibration system is essential to account for changes in the detector response once the instrument has been removed from the laboratory. The Calibration Systems project at Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL) is aimed towards developing and demonstrating compact quantum cascade (QC) laser-based calibration systems for infrared sensor systems in order to provide both a spectral and radiometric calibration while minimizing the impact on the instrument payload. In FY05, PNNL demonstrated a multi-level radiance scheme that provides six radiance levels for an enhanced linearity check compared to the currently accepted two-point scheme. PNNL began testing the repeatability of this scheme using a cryogenically cooled, single-mode quantum cascade laser (QCL). A cyclic variation in the power was observed that was attributed to the thermal cycling of the laser's dewar. In FY06, PNNL continued testing this scheme and installed an auxiliary liquid nitrogen reservoir to limit the thermal cycling effects. Although better repeatability was achieved over a longer time period, power fluctuations were still observed due to the thermal cycling. Due to the limitations with the cryogenic system, PNNL began testing Fabry-Perot QCLs that operate continuous-wave (cw) or quasi-cw at room temperature (RT) in FY06. PNNL demonstrated a multi-level scheme that provides five radiance levels in 105 seconds with excellent repeatability. We have continued testing this repeatability in FY07. A burn-in effect appears in which the power increases over a certain time period. Repeatability better than 1%, however, is demonstrated for most of the radiance levels after this initial burn-in. In FY06, PNNL also began investigating a fiber-coupled RT QCL for a compact IR calibration source. PNNL demonstrated a uniform beam profile by measuring a time-averaged response and modulating the fiber optic with a motor to minimize the effects of speckle. In FY07, PNNL examined the power stability of fiber-coupled QCLs. Feedback appears to degrade the stability so that anti-reflective coatings for fibers may be essential. In FY07, PNNL continued to investigate the stability of room temperature QCLs as well as the measurement technique to provide a quantitative estimate for the measurement uncertainty. We designed and built a custom environmental enclosure to reduce the measurement uncertainty. After an initial burn-in, we have achieved uncertainties better than 0.1% for data collected over almost 100 hours of operation. We also built a bench-top system to demonstrate how the QC laser can be used to calibrate a microbolometer array and illustrated the importance of a multi-point calibration

SGCE mutations cause psychiatric disorders: clinical and genetic characterisation

Myoclonus dystonia syndrome is a childhood onset hyperkinetic movement disorder characterized by predominant alcohol responsive upper body myoclonus and dystonia. A proportion of cases are due to mutations in the maternally imprinted SGCE gene. Previous studies have suggested that patients with SGCE mutations may have an increased rate of psychiatric disorders. We established a cohort of patients with myoclonus dystonia syndrome and SGCE mutations to determine the extent to which psychiatric disorders form part of the disease phenotype. In all, 89 patients with clinically suspected myoclonus dystonia syndrome were recruited from the UK and Ireland. SGCE was analysed using direct sequencing and for copy number variants. In those patients where no mutation was found TOR1A (GAG deletion), GCH1, THAP1 and NKX2-1 were also sequenced. SGCE mutation positive cases were systematically assessed using standardized psychiatric interviews and questionnaires and compared with a disability-matched control group of patients with alcohol responsive tremor. Nineteen (21%) probands had a SGCE mutation, five of which were novel. Recruitment of family members increased the affected SGCE mutation positive group to 27 of whom 21 (77%) had psychiatric symptoms. Obsessive–compulsive disorder was eight times more likely (P < 0.001) in mutation positive cases, compulsivity being the predominant feature (P < 0.001). Generalized anxiety disorder (P = 0.003) and alcohol dependence (P = 0.02) were five times more likely in mutation positive cases than tremor controls. SGCE mutations are associated with a specific psychiatric phenotype consisting of compulsivity, anxiety and alcoholism in addition to the characteristic motor phenotype. SGCE mutations are likely to have a pleiotropic effect in causing both motor and specific psychiatric symptoms