Radiometric sources for the Los Alamos National Laboratory calibration Laboratory

Los Alamos is developing a laboratory that will support state of the art calibration of moderate-aperture instrumentation (< 40 cm diameter) having high spatial and thermal resolution. Highly accurate calibration in the reflected solar and thermal infrared spectral regions are required for newly developed instrumentation. Radiometric calibration of the instrumentation requires well-characterized, extensive sources of radiation from 0.45 to 12 {mu}m. For wavelengths above 2.5 {mu}m, blackbodies having temperature control and radiometric uniformity to within 100 mK are being designed and will be radiometrically characterized at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST). For the spectral range 0.45--2.5 {mu}m, a ``whitebody`` integrating sphere equipped with tungsten-halogen lamps and enclosed inside a vacuum shroud will be used; this vacuum-compatible extensive standard diffuse source utilizes well-known technology and will be characterized at NIST`s existing facilities. Characterization of instrumental contrast performance for wavelengths, {lambda}, beyond 2.5 {mu}m will utilize a recently designed absolute variable-contrast IR radiometric calibrator, and preliminary data indicate that this calibrator will perform satisfactorily. Conceptual design and status of these extensive broad-band sources and of a monochromatic source to be used for spectral calibrations will be presented.