Deep UV Blocking Particle Filter, Phase I

Satellite survey missions (IMAP, MEDICI, DRIVE Initiative, EXPLORERs, DISCOVERY, CubeSats / Smallsats, etc.) require filtering the incident radiation to plasma and neutral particle sensors for applications such as space weather monitoring and forecasting, exploration of planetary environments and interstellar medium, etc. For sensitive detection of neutral and charged particles in satellite survey missions, an instrumentation for efficient rejection of EUV, Deep UV and visible flux is needed that also efficiently transmits the particles. The proposed concept, when developed and commercialized, is expected to have a significant and immediate impact on such NASA missions. Similar designs of these filters are expected to find considerable DoD applications in secure UV communication, an area being actively developed by a number of DoD agencies. Equally important are multiple DoE applications of the proposed technology spanning from plasma parameter monitoring in tokamaks, particle detection in accelerators, lightning and aurora studies, etc. Commercial applications include plasma monitoring in plasma etching systems, reactive ion etching systems and multiple other monitoring and control applications of tools using plasma (spanning from semiconductor processing to the medical field to general material science). More »