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A tunable, intensity-stabilized, quasi-continuous wave (CW) laser system, patterned after the Spectral Irradiance and Radiance Responsivity Calibrations using Uniform Sources (SIRCUS) system at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) 1, has been installed and is being tested in the NASA Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC) Code 618 Biospheric Sciences Laboratory’s Calibration Facility. This system is referred to as SIRCUS-G (SIRCUS-Goddard). The tunable output of the laser system is fiber-fed to a 76.2 cm diameter integrating sphere lined with Spectralon. The uniform radiance light emitted from the integrating sphere is used in system-level radiometric responsivity characterizations and wavelength calibrations of remote sensing instruments. The primary radiance reference standards in the responsivity characterizations are a three-element Si trap radiometer for the visible and near infrared and a radiometer employing an InGaAs detector. Both radiometers have been calibrated by NIST. These radiometers are located at the exit port of the Spectralon coated integrating sphere. In addition, a set of three radiometers are mounted on the 76.2 cm integrating sphere’s wall ports to monitor source radiance and to provide real-time sphere radiance data during the calibrations of remote sensing instruments. These monitor radiometers provide spectral coverage from 300nm to near 2500nm. This paper presents the results of our characterization of the performance of these monitor radiometers. Results are presented and discussed on monitor radiometer short- and long-term system stability, noise level, and total measurement uncertainty.

The design of a space-based interferometer with a large number of apertures has been a subject of much discussion. In this paper, we argue in favor of using a Michelson beam combiner for the case where a small field of view is acceptable. We address the normal criticism that a Michelson combiner is too complicated by presenting an optical design for a 90-aperture, laboratory prototype. Coupling this device to a large, ground-based telescope with a coherent fiber array forms an imaging system that is a significant improvement over aperture masking.

We measured, within 6% accuracy, the nonlinear refractive index (n2) of 10 meter long multimode silica fiber of 17μm core diameter, using a modified induced grating autocorrelation technique (IGA). This measurement technique, based on time-delayed two beam coupling in a photorefractive crystal has been used to accurately measure n2 in short lengths of single mode fibers. For the first time to our knowledge, IGA is used to measure n2 of multimode fiber with a passively modelocked Nd:YVO4 laser operating with a dual-line near 1342 nm.