WE PROPOSE TO DESIGN CONSTRUCT AND TEST SILICON SUBSTRATE BASED SSB MIRRORS NECESSARY FOR HIGH PERFORMANCE FABRY PEROT INTERFEROMETERS FPIS TO BE USED IN THE 25 40 UM MID IR BAND. THESE MIRRORS WILL BE FABRICATED FROM SILICON WAFERS THAT ARE ANTIREFLECTION COATED ARC BY MICROMACHINING AN ARTIFICIAL DIELECTRIC META MATERIAL ON ONE SIDE AND DEPOSITING OPTIMIZED GOLD METALIZEDPATTERNS ON THE OTHER. TWO MIRRORS WITH THE METALIZED SURFACES FACING ONE ANOTHER FORM THE FABRY PEROT CAVITY ALSO KNOWN AS THE FPI ETALON. THE EXTERIOR SURFACES OF THE SILICON MIRRORS ARE ANTI REFLECTION COATED FOR BOTH GOOD TRANSMISSION IN THE SCIENCE BAND AND TO PREVENT UNWANTED PARASITIC FPI CAVITIES FROM FORMING BETWEEN THE FOUR SURFACES ONE ANTI REFLECTION COATED ONE METALIZED FOR EACHMIRROR OF THE FPI ETALON.THE MIRRORS WILL BE TESTED WITHIN A MINIATURE CRYOGENIC SCANNING FABRY PEROT MCSF THAT WE HAVE DESIGNED THROUGH SUPPORT OF A PREVIOUS NASA GRANT. THIS DESIGN IS BASED ON OUR LONG EXPERIENCE IN CONSTRUCTING AND USING SCANNING FPI IN THE MID IR TO SUBMM RANGE AND FITS WITHIN TEST BEDS WE HAVE ON HAND THAT ARE SUITABLE FOR BOTH WARM AND COLD TESTS.THE KEY TECHNOLOGIES ARE THE ARC AND TUNED MIRRORS THAT ARE ENABLED BY SILICON NANO MACHINING TECHNIQUES. THE CREATION OF THESE SSB MIRRORS PROMISES GREATLY IMPROVED PERFORMANCE OVER PREVIOUS VERSIONS OF MID IR TO SUBMM BAND FPIS THAT ARE BASED ON MIRRORS MADE FROM FREE STANDING METAL MESH STRETCHED OVER SUPPORT RINGS. PERFORMANCE IS IMPROVED BOTH STRUCTURALLY AND IN TERMS OF SENSITIVITY AND IS MEASURED AS THE PRODUCT OF THE CAVITY FINESSE TIMES TRANSMISSION. OUR ELECTROMAGNETIC MODELING SUGGESTS THAT SSB MIRRORS WILL IMPROVE THIS PRODUCT BY A FACTOR OF 2 OVER THE BEST FREE STANDING MESH ETALONS AVAILABLE. THIS TRANSLATES INTO A FACTOR OF SQRT 2 IMPROVEMENT IN SENSITIVITY PER ETALON OR A FULL FACTOR OF 2 WHEN USED IN A TANDEM DUAL ETALON FPI SPECTROMETER. THE SSB IMPROVEMENTS ARE DUE TO BOTH THE STIFF 0.8 MM THICK SILICON SUBSTRATE AND THE SILICON NANOFABRICATION TECHNIQUES AND INCLUDE THE EFFECTS OF 1 PRECISELY TUNED REFLECTIVE SURFACES 2 VERY SMOOTH MIRROR SURFACES LEADING TO GREATER CAVITY EFFICIENCY 3 REDUCEDSUSCEPTIBILITY TO VIBRATIONS DUE THE SILICON SUPPORT STRUCTURES 4 REDUCED SUSCEPTIBILITY TO DEFECT FINESSE DUE TO REDUCED MOUNTING STRESS AND 5 GREATLY IMPROVED MECHANICAL ROBUSTNESS THAT COULD RESULT IN SPACE QUALIFIED HARDWARE. THESE IMPROVEMENTS ARE ENABLED BY THE COMBINATION OF SILICON BASED TECHNOLOGIES AND OUR SOPHISTICATED ELECTROMAGNETIC MODELING.THE FINISHED PRODUCTS HAVE MANY SCIENCE APPLICATIONS. FOR EXAMPLE THE SSB MIRRORS WITHIN AN MCSF WOULD CONVERT THE FORCAST OR HAWC CAMERAS ON SOFIA INTO IMAGING SPECTROMETERS CAPABLE OF WIDESCALE MAPPING OF THE MID TO FAR IR FINE STRUCTURE LINES FROM THE GALACTIC CENTER GALACTIC STAR FORMATION REGIONS AND EXTERNAL GALAXIES. IN FACT THIS NEW ETALON TECHNOLOGY COULD BE USED IN ANY MIDTO FAR IR CAMERA CONVERTING THE CAMERA INTO A MODERATE 100 TO 4000 TO HIGH RESOLVING POWER 100 000 IMAGING SPECTROMETER AT MODEST COST. A PARTICULARLY INTERESTING APPLICATION COULD BE A LARGE FORMAT 10 CM DIAMETER FPI THAT COULD DELIVER RESOLVING POWERS IN EXCESS OF 5000 FOR A 10 M SPACE TELESCOPE WHICH MIGHT BE THE INCARNATION OF THE NEXT MAJOR FAR IR SPACE MISSION SEE NASA COSMIC ORIGINS NEWSLETTER V4 NO. 1 MARCH 2015.OUR PROGRAM ADDRESSES NASAS STRATEGIC GOAL 1 EXPAND THE FRONTIERS OF KNOWLEDGE CAPABILITY AND OPPORTUNITY IN SPACE. OBJECTIVE 1.6 DISCOVER HOW THE UNIVERSE WORKS EXPLORE HOW IT BEGAN AND EVOLVED AND SEARCH FOR LIFE ON PLANETS AROUND OTHER STARS SPECIFICALLY TECHNOLOGY DEVELOPMENT AND DEMONSTRATION. IT ALSO ADDRESSES STRATEGIC GOAL 2 VIA OBJECTIVE 2.4 ADVANCE THE NATIONS STEM EDUCATION AND WORKFORCE PIPELINE BY WORKING COLLABORATIVE WITH OTHER AGENCIES TO ENGAGE STUDENTS TEACHERS AND FACULTY IN NASAS MISSIONS AND UNIQUE ASSETS.