Brimrose Corp. has received two US Army contracts to develop chemical detection sensors based on imaging systems and quantum dots, the global photonics and high-technology company announced this week at CLEO 2013 in San Diego. The first of the Phase I Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) awards from the US Army’s Chemical and Biological Defense unit is for an acousto-optic tunable filter-based (AOTF) polarimetric imaging system for standoff chemical detection. Brimrose aims to develop and design an AOTF system using a long-wavelength IR (LWIR) focal plane array as the detector, with plans to build and fully demonstrate the system in Phase II. Potential uses for the detector include remote sensing, pollution detection, environmental monitoring and mapping, automobile emission monitoring, and process control in the manufacture of semiconductors, pharmaceuticals, beverages and food. The second SBIR award is for development of low-cost IR focal plane arrays for passive chemical detection using colloidal quantum dots (CQDs). Brimrose has collaborated with Research Triangle Institute in North Carolina to develop a reliable fabrication process to make mercury telluride CQDs. Current work is being explored in the mid-IR range, but the team aims to extend the capabilities into the LWIR range. The research could lead to less expensive sensors that operate at room temperatures, which could be helpful to first responders, firefighters and military post-blast reconnaissance teams. For more information, visit: www.brimrose.com