Abstract

The atomic resonance filter (ARF) is art ultra- high-Q (10⁵–10⁶) optical filter that is isotropic and insensitive to environmental factors and possesses a 180° acceptance angle.¹ We are developing a novel ARF for satellite applications. Our filter operates in a Fraunhofer dip in the solar spectrum, thereby offering the key advantage of reduced solar background noise. Other important operational characteristics of the filter are: a projected conversion efficiency of blue-green light into the wavelength-shifted output light of ~90%, a 10-ns response time, and an output in the near UV, a spectral region that is efficiently detected by commercial large-area long-lived photomultiplier tubes.

© 1988 Optical Society of America