Cooled infrared filters and dichroics for the sea and land surface temperature radiometer

The sea and land surface temperature radiometer (SLSTR) is a nine-channel visible and infrared high-precision radiometer designed to provide climate data of global sea and land surface temperatures. The SLSTR payload is destined to fly on the Ocean and Medium-Resolution Land Mission for the ESA/EU global monitoring for environment and security (GMES) programme Sentinel-3 mission to measure the sea and land temperature and topography for near real-time environmental and atmospheric climate monitoring of the Earth. In this paper we describe the optical layout of infrared optics in the instrument, the spectral thin-film multilayer design, and the system channel throughput analysis for the combined interference filter and dichroic beam splitter coatings to discriminate wavelengths at 3.74, 10.85, 12.0 μm. The rationale for selection of thin-film materials, the deposition technique, and environmental testing, inclusive of humidity, thermal cycling, and ionizing radiation testing are also described.