PNNL-16942 Laser Remote Sensing: FY07 Summary Report WW Harper TL Stewart JD Strasburg MT Batdorf EC Golovich A Mendoza JS Thompson September 2007 Prepared for the U.S. Department of Energy under Contract DE-AC05-76RL01830 PNNL-16942 Laser Remote Sensing: FY07 Summary Report W. W. Harper J. D. Strasburg E. C. Golovich J. S. Thompson T. L. Stewart M. T. Batdorf A. Mendoza September 2007 Prepared for the U.S. Department of Energy under Contract DE-AC05-76RL01830 Pacific Northwest National Laboratory Richland, Washington 99352 Summary Standoff detection and characterization of chemical plumes using Frequency Modulated Differential Absorption LIDAR (FM-DIAL) is a promising technique for the detection of nuclear proliferation activities. For the last several years Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL) has been developing an FM-DIAL–based remote sensing system as part of PNNL’s Infrared Sensors project within NA-22’s Enabling Technologies portfolio. In FY06 the remote sensing effort became a stand-alone project within the Plutonium Production portfolio with the primary goal of transitioning technology from the laboratory to the user community. Current systems remotely detect trace chemicals in the atmosphere over path lengths of hundreds of meters for monostatic operation (without a retro-reflector target) and up to ten kilometers for bistatic operation (with a retro-reflector target). The FM-DIAL sensor is sensitive and highly selective for chemicals with narrowband absorption features on the order of 1–2 cm -1; as a result, the FM-DIAL sensors are best suited to simple di-atomic or tri-atomic molecules and other molecules with unusually narrow absorption features. A broadband sensor is currently being developed. It is designed to detect chemicals with spectral features on the order of several 10s of wavenumbers wide. This will expand the applicability of this technology to the detection of more complicated molecules. Our efforts in FY07 focused on the detection of chemicals associated with the PUREX process. The highest value performance measure for FY07, namely the demonstration of the Broadband Laser Spectrometer (BLS) during chemical release experiments, was successfully achieved in June, July, and August of this year. Significant advancements have been made with each of the other tasks as well. A short-wave infrared version of the miniature FM-DIAL (FM-Mini) instrument was successfully demonstrated during field tests in June. During FY07 another version of the FM-Mini was built using long-wave infrared components. This instrument was deployed for field tests in July and August. The modeling task continued to study the impact of speckle on the FM-DIAL system as well as make further advancements in the sophistication of the numerical simulations. iii Acronyms BLS Broadband Laser Spectrometer DFB distributed feedback FM-DIAL Frequency Modulated Differential Absorption LIDAR FM-Mini miniature FM-DIAL FP Fabry-Perot HTS Hanford Town Site LIDAR light detection and ranging LWIR long-wave infrared NTS Nevada Test Site PNNL Pacific Northwest National Laboratory PPG portable plume generator QCL quantum cascade lasers SNR signal-to-noise ratio SWIR short-wave infrared TCC Test Cell C v Contents Summary ............................................................................................................................................ iii 1.0 Introduction ................................................................................................................................ 1.1 1.0 Introduction .............................................................................................................................. 1.1 1.1 Project Organization ....................................................................................................... 1.1 1.2 Proposed FY07 Milestones ............................................................................................ 1.2 1.3 FY07 Accomplishments ................................................................................................. 1.2 2.0 FM-DIAL Miniaturization ....................................................................................................... 2.1 3.0 Broadband Laser Spectrometer ................................................................................................ 3.1 3.1 Reconfiguring the System to Detect New Hampshire .................................................... 3.2 4.0 Modeling Development ............................................................................................................ 4.1 4.1 Impact of Speckle on the FM-DIAL System .................................................................. 4.1 4.1.1 Comparison of Speckle and Turbulence Noise on FM-DIAL ........................... 4.2 4.1.2 Limitations of the Current System with Regards to Speckle............................. 4.3 4.2 Addressing the Scale Problem in the Simulations .......................................................... 4.3 5.0 Field Tests ................................................................................................................................ 5.1 5.1 December Field Tests at the Hanford Town Site ........................................................... 5.1 5.2 June Michigan Releases at the Hanford Test Site .......................................................... 5.2 5.2.1 Experimental Setup ........................................................................................... 5.2 5.2.2 FM-Mini Results ............................................................................................... 5.4 5.2.3 Broadband Results ............................................................................................. 5.5 5.3 July New Hampshire Releases at the Hanford Town Site .............................................. 5.6 5.3.1 Experimental Setup ........................................................................................... 5.6 5.3.2 FM-Mini Results ............................................................................................... 5.6 vii 5.3.3 Broadband Results ............................................................................................. 5.7 5.4 August Tarantula Tests at the Nevada Test Site ............................................................ 5.7 5.4.1 Experimental Setup ........................................................................................... 5.8 5.4.2 FM-Mini Results ............................................................................................... 5.9 5.4.3 Broadband Results ............................................................................................. 5.10 6.0 References ................................................................................................................................ 6.1 Figures 2.1 Schematic of the Optical Layout of the LWIR FM-Mini System ............................................ 2.1 2.2 Layout of the LWIR FM-Mini Optics ...................................................................................... 2.2 2.3 Power Supply, Current Controller, Lock-In Amplifier and Computer Required to Run the System .................................................................................................................... 2.2 2.4 FM-Mini System Deployed in the Field .................................................................................. 2.3 3.1 Broadband Laser Spectrometer Installed in the Trailer ........................................................... 3.1 3.2 Representative Data Showing the Raw BLS Data and the Processed New Hampshire Absorption Spectra ........................................................................................ 3.2 4.1 Example Speckle Pattern ......................................................................................................... 4.1 5.1 Representative Spectrum from the Average of One Sequence of 50 Spectra .......................... 5.1 5.2 Autocorrelation Relation Plot Showing the Timescale of Atmospheric Turbulence ............... 5.2 5.3 Portable Plume Generator for Michigan .................................................................................. 5.3 5.4 Michigan PPG as Viewed from the Trailer .............................................................................. 5.3 5.5 BLS Trailer and FM-Mini System Deployed for Michigan Release Experiments .................. 5.4 5.6 Processed FM-Mini Results for the Michigan Release Experiments ....................................... 5.5 5.7 Representative Raw BLS Data for the Michigan Release Experiments .................................. 5.5 5.8 Processed BLS Results for the First Michigan Release ........................................................... 5.6 5.9 Processed FM-Mini Results for the Second New Hampshire Release ..................................... 5.7 viii 5.10 Processed BLS Results for the New Hampshire Release ......................................................... 5.8 5.11 BLS Trailer and FM-Mini System Deployed at NTS; Test Cell C as Seen from the Sensor Locations ....................................................................................................... 5.8 5.12 Schematic of the Experimental Setup at Test Cell C ............................................................... 5.9 5.13 Processed New Hampshire Results of the FM-Mini System for the First and Second Halves of the August 20 Release .......................................................................... 5.10 5.14 Blow Up of