Better resolution puts x-ray calorimetry in the limelight
April 17, 2008
Sunovia Energy Technologies, Inc. and EPIR Technologies, Inc. (EPIR) are now working with a Phase II Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) contract to EPIR from NASA.
These two companies have a strategy to commercialize synergistic cadmium-telluride based technologies and manufacturing processes for solar, infrared and x-ray within the renewable energy, night vision, medical and scientific markets. The Phase II contract specifically calls for the development and fabrication of prototype high-resolution x-ray calorimeters that will be integrated into future NASA missions and follows a successful Phase I contract, according to Sunovia.
X-ray calorimeters are used to measure the energy, or wavelength of the incoming x-ray photons. Semi-metallic mercury telluride has been proven as an excellent absorber material due to its low heat capacity. However, EPIR's research team has demonstrated a breakthrough that proves that molecular beam epitaxy (MBE) grown mercury-cadmium-telluride (MCT) combines an excellent conductivity with an even lower heat capacity and hence allows superior energy resolution.
The rich variety of x-ray emitters found outside of the solar system has resulted in the rapid development of detection devices since the inception of x-ray astronomy more than 50 years ago. Nearly all observable objects in the night sky either emit x-radiation naturally or can be observed through x-ray absorption. Arguably, x-ray astronomy has yielded the most important astronomical discoveries of the last generation. NASA's next generation of x-ray observation missions will require x-ray calorimeters (devices used to measure the energy, or wavelength of the incoming x-ray photons) with energy resolution superior to that of the x-ray calorimeters now available.
This Phase II contract for improved x-ray calorimeters marks a new application for MCT-related products. In Phase I, EPIR demonstrated that MCT is the best material known for the manufacture of x-ray calorimeters; now, in Phase II, EPIR will fabricate x-ray calorimeters that NASA intends to fly on upcoming NASA missions, including Spectrum-X-Gamma (SXG), an international high-energy astrophysics observatory being built under the leadership of the Russian Space Research Institute, and NeXT, the New X-ray Telescope project, a next-generation x-ray astronomy satellite that the Japanese x-ray astronomy group has proposed, if the NASA proposals for those missions are accepted.
Caroline Kilbourne of NASA's X-ray Astrophysics Laboratory in Greenbelt, Md., says the NASA seeks “a breakthrough in optimizing x-ray absorbers for silicon-based calorimeter spectrometers. The resulting x-ray sensors will have significantly higher spectral-resolution, which will be used to provide insight into our hot and dynamic universe.”
Sunovia, based in Sarasota, Fla., is the exclusive marketer of all products, technologies and intellectual properties that are developed by EPIR, and currently owns a significant equity interest in EPIR. EPIR, meanwhile, is known for its R&D of materials and devices for infrared detection and imaging for night vision, missile tracking, exploration in space and other applications. Both companies have ties with major Defense Department and industrial labs involved in infrared detection and imaging, including the Army Research Laboratory, the Night Vision Electronic Sensors Directorate, BAE Systems, Lockheed Martin, DRS, Raytheon, Rockwell, Texas Instruments and other laboratories.
In particular, EPIR and the Microphysics Laboratory at the Univ. of Illinois at Chicago, both under the leadership of Siva Sivananthan, the president of EPIR, have pioneered the growth of MCT on silicon substrates for the past 18 years, and the growth of MCT for the past 25 years. Sunovia believes MCT is the leading material for infrared detection and imaging.
Other areas of R&D at Sunovia and EPIR include the renewable energy field with designs for less expensive high-efficiency solar cells that will utilize EPIR's expertise in the growth of high quality cadmium-telluride on silicon (CdTe/Si).
Sunovia Energy Technologies, Inc.: www.sunoviaenergy.com
X-ray Calorimeter Group, Astrophysics Science Division, Goddard Space Flight Center, NASA: http://phonon.gsfc.nasa.gov/
EPIR Technologies, Inc.: www.epir.com
SOURCE: Sunovia; NASA
Sunovia Energy Technologies, Inc. and EPIR Technologies, Inc. (EPIR) are now working with a Phase II Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) contract to EPIR from NASA.
These two companies have a strategy to commercialize synergistic cadmium-telluride based technologies and manufacturing processes for solar, infrared and x-ray within the renewable energy, night vision, medical and scientific markets. The Phase II contract specifically calls for the development and fabrication of prototype high-resolution x-ray calorimeters that will be integrated into future NASA missions and follows a successful Phase I contract, according to Sunovia.
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The rich variety of x-ray emitters found outside of the solar system has resulted in the rapid development of detection devices since the inception of x-ray astronomy more than 50 years ago. Nearly all observable objects in the night sky either emit x-radiation naturally or can be observed through x-ray absorption. Arguably, x-ray astronomy has yielded the most important astronomical discoveries of the last generation. NASA's next generation of x-ray observation missions will require x-ray calorimeters (devices used to measure the energy, or wavelength of the incoming x-ray photons) with energy resolution superior to that of the x-ray calorimeters now available.
This Phase II contract for improved x-ray calorimeters marks a new application for MCT-related products. In Phase I, EPIR demonstrated that MCT is the best material known for the manufacture of x-ray calorimeters; now, in Phase II, EPIR will fabricate x-ray calorimeters that NASA intends to fly on upcoming NASA missions, including Spectrum-X-Gamma (SXG), an international high-energy astrophysics observatory being built under the leadership of the Russian Space Research Institute, and NeXT, the New X-ray Telescope project, a next-generation x-ray astronomy satellite that the Japanese x-ray astronomy group has proposed, if the NASA proposals for those missions are accepted.
Caroline Kilbourne of NASA's X-ray Astrophysics Laboratory in Greenbelt, Md., says the NASA seeks “a breakthrough in optimizing x-ray absorbers for silicon-based calorimeter spectrometers. The resulting x-ray sensors will have significantly higher spectral-resolution, which will be used to provide insight into our hot and dynamic universe.”
Sunovia, based in Sarasota, Fla., is the exclusive marketer of all products, technologies and intellectual properties that are developed by EPIR, and currently owns a significant equity interest in EPIR. EPIR, meanwhile, is known for its R&D of materials and devices for infrared detection and imaging for night vision, missile tracking, exploration in space and other applications. Both companies have ties with major Defense Department and industrial labs involved in infrared detection and imaging, including the Army Research Laboratory, the Night Vision Electronic Sensors Directorate, BAE Systems, Lockheed Martin, DRS, Raytheon, Rockwell, Texas Instruments and other laboratories.
In particular, EPIR and the Microphysics Laboratory at the Univ. of Illinois at Chicago, both under the leadership of Siva Sivananthan, the president of EPIR, have pioneered the growth of MCT on silicon substrates for the past 18 years, and the growth of MCT for the past 25 years. Sunovia believes MCT is the leading material for infrared detection and imaging.
Other areas of R&D at Sunovia and EPIR include the renewable energy field with designs for less expensive high-efficiency solar cells that will utilize EPIR's expertise in the growth of high quality cadmium-telluride on silicon (CdTe/Si).
Sunovia Energy Technologies, Inc.: www.sunoviaenergy.com
X-ray Calorimeter Group, Astrophysics Science Division, Goddard Space Flight Center, NASA: http://phonon.gsfc.nasa.gov/
EPIR Technologies, Inc.: www.epir.com
SOURCE: Sunovia; NASA
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