Grant: Discovery Grants Program - Individual

The primary objective of this research program is to play a leading role in, and provide a Canadian contribution to, the advancement of the Far-Infrared (FIR) instrumentation needed for near-term and long-term future FIR astrophysics space missions. This involves direct participation in the development of the Canadian contribution to two FIR decadal roadmap pillars: 1) cooled aperture instrumentation, and 2) interferometry. Canada has established itself as the go-to partner for low power cryogenic mechanisms and metrology, resultant from current technology developpment in cryogenic FTS technology. NASA's annual technology gap assessment currently places Canada as the leading player in cryogenic FTS, giving Canada the pole position for the next generation far-infrared space missions, which will feature FTS instrumentation. This research vision also involves exploration and advancement of spectroscopic and interferometric techniques in support of a long-term FIR spatial/spectral interferometry space mission. Finally, this involves the development and mechanical/thermal/optical/spectral characterization of space-qualified cryogenic materials and components including carbon-fibre composite materials. This research program will make contributions to many aspects along the FIR roadmap including the exploitation of current results and facilities and collaboration with future experiments, facilities, and observatories. This research will provide HQP training to many students through a combination of hands-on instrumentation development and the broad perspective provided by participation in large international collaborations. The resultant technological advances will allow astronomical observations to be undertaken in shorter observation times, over larger regions of spatial coverage, or of greater spatial resolution; all with increased sensitivity over the current state of the art. Current work in this field is at very early stages on the global field. This research program provides a ground floor opportunity to become a key partner in future-generation ground and space based FIR astronomy observatories, providing excellent opportunities to train students and researchers. While this work is in many aspects unique within Canada, and the world, it complements the existing research network both locally and internationally, and will fortify existing and anticipated international collaborations into the future.