Demonstration of an HgCdTe Detector-Based Ultra-Stable Mid- Infrared Spectrometer for Transit Spectroscopy and Phase Curve Observations of Habitable Planets Around M-Stars

Our goal is to demonstrate the performance of a new ultra-stable HgCdTe (HgCdTe) detector-based mid-infrared (MIR) spectrometer in the laboratory. An existing long-wavelength HgCdTe detector array (Cabrera et al. 2020), provided by one of our collaborators, will be integrated into the existing experiment that uses a high precision calibration scheme, which we call MIRASET (the Mid-InfraRed Array Spectrometer for Exoplanet Transits; Staguhn et al. 2019). MIRASET is currently equipped with superconducting Transition Edge Sensor (TES) detector arrays, but recent results in the laboratory and with JWST suggest that improved HgCdTe-based instruments, such as MIRASET, may be able to achieve a stability of better than 5 ppm over many hours of observations -- a tight requirement for the detection of atmospheric signatures of habitability and biology on exoplanets around M-dwarf stars via transit/eclipse/phase curve spectroscopy with a future FIR large observatory such as Origins. Most individual components used for this demonstration have a high TRL level, since most are commercially available (detectors are from Teledyne through a loan from University of Rochester; readout electronics will be provided as loaners from other projects, and the black body source, grating, IR optics, IR lasers are OTS). A comparison of the spectrometer's performance with TES versus HgCdTe detector arrays will inform the technology roadmap for future IR missions aimed at the characterization of planets around M-stars and decrease risk and development costs for future instrumentation.

This is a mature technology (TRL 7+) — the realistic path in is usually NASA's Technology Transfer Program: licensing an existing NASA patent, or a Space Act Agreement to use NASA facilities/expertise directly. NASA also runs a startup licensing program with no upfront fee for companies formed to commercialize a specific NASA technology.

None of these are guaranteed paths for this specific project — TechPort itself doesn't have an "apply" button. Reaching out to the contact(s) above with a specific question is usually the fastest way to find out what's actually open.