Broad Bandwidth Meta-Material Antireflection Coatings for Measurement of the Cosmic Microwave Background

Completed TRL 3 (started at 1, targeting 3)

Description

We propose to develop broad-band metamaterial antireflection (AR) coatings for the far-infrared and millimeter wave bands. The proposed coating technology could realize an unprecedented combination of low reflectance, negligible dielectric loss, and broad bandwidth for large diameter cryogenic refractive optics. The projected performance of the proposed technology matches the desired attributes for optical coatings intended for astrophysical instrumentation. The effort's objective is to realize broadband low-reflectance coatings. The two key technical challenges are the design of the precision engineered materials and their characterization.

Benefits

Broadband meta-material coatings are applicable in the millimeter and sub-millimeter for astrophysical instrumentation (e.g., CMBpol, SOFIA, SPIDER) and remote sensing. This technology also enables compact THz imagers for concealed threat detection and spectrometers for explosives detection.

Details

Program	Center Innovation Fund: GSFC CIF (GSFC CIF)
Lead organization	Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, MD
Start date	2013-02-01
End date	2013-10-01

Project contacts

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Edward J Wollack — edward.j.wollack@nasa.gov

How to get involved

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