Proposed for a late 2031 launch, PRIMA, the Probe far-Infrared Mission for Astrophysics, closes the gap between JWST and ALMA, offering unprecedented sensitivity and spectroscopic mapping capability in the 24-264 μm range for detailed studies of galactic evolution, planetary atmospheres, and dust-metal dynamics. Onboard PRIMA, the PRIMAger camera operates in the 25-80 μm bands utilizing advanced MKID detector modules for hyperspectral imaging enabled by Linear Variable Filters. This paper presents a graded resonant metal-mesh filter technology, demonstrating very promising efficiency in the short wavelength range. Overcoming dielectric loss limitations, an innovative dual-layer LVF design on thin membranes achieves a transmission of 80-90% at 12 THz. Rigorous electromagnetic modeling, optimization, and position-dependent spectral response measurements validate the filter performance. We present a comprehensive set of simulation and experimental results, including environmental pre-qualification tests, strongly supporting the suitability of this technology for future space applications.
We design, fabricate, and measure a novel spectrometer based on meta-surface structures, aiming to optimize its spectroscopic resolution within a band from 1.7 to 2.5 THz. The latter corresponds to a bandwidth of 38%, being comparable with a grating spectrometer. The meta-surfaces apply unit cells that consist of double-anchor structures based on gold, polyimide and gold triple layers. Several quantum cascade lasers that operate at slightly different frequencies around 2.1 THz were used to validate the spectrometer. We have measured a resolving power R of 273 and an efficiency of 78 %. Our results demonstrate for the first time a centimeter-sized, light weight FIR spectrometer with a promising resolution, which has potential to replace the half meter-sized, heavy grating based spectrometers in this wavelength band.
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