Skip to main content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Official websites use .gov
A .gov website belongs to an official government organization in the United States.

Secure .gov websites use HTTPS
A lock ( ) or https:// means you’ve safely connected to the .gov website. Share sensitive information only on official, secure websites.

Development of Electrical Substitution Fourier Transform Spectrometry for Absolute Optical Power Measurements

Published

Author(s)

Jorge Neira, Solomon I. Woods, James E. Proctor, Joseph P. Rice

Abstract

We have demonstrated the first continuous-scan Electrical Substitution Fourier Transform Spectrometer (ES-FTS), which serves initially as an apparatus for absolute spectral responsivity calibrations of detectors over the wavelength range from 1.5 µm to 11 µm. The goal is to develop a spectral-comparator system for high accuracy, high dynamic range, high spectral resolution and fast measurement in the infrared region which can be tied directly to an absolute power scale through electrical substitution. The ES-FTS apparatus employs a commercial Fourier transform spectrometer and a custom electrical substitution bolometer detector to enable spectrally-resolved absolute optical power measurements. A generalization of electrical substitution techniques enables determination of the voltage waveform which must be applied to the bolometer's electrical heater to cancel the optical signal from a Michelson interferometer, in order to quantify the time-dependent optical power incident on the bolometer. The noise floor of the electrical substitution bolometer is on the order of 10 pW/Hz½ and its response is expected to be linear from the noise floor to 1 mW. A direct comparison between a pyroelectric standard detector and the Electrical Substitution Fourier Transform Spectrometer has been performed, and experimental results reported here show the great potential for this technique.
Citation
Optics Express
Volume
29
Issue
23

Keywords

FTIR, electrical substitution, bolometer, ACR, infrared spectrometer

Citation

Neira, J. , Woods, S. , Proctor, J. and Rice, J. (2021), Development of Electrical Substitution Fourier Transform Spectrometry for Absolute Optical Power Measurements, Optics Express, [online], https://doi.org/10.1364/OE.438770, https://tsapps.nist.gov/publication/get_pdf.cfm?pub_id=932127 (Accessed March 29, 2024)
Created October 27, 2021, Updated November 29, 2022