Numerical reconstruction of an infrared wavefront utilizing an optical phase modulation device

We utilize nitroanisole, that absorbs infrared (IR) radiation as heat, as an optical modulation device based on a thermal process. The nitroanisole exhibits a thermal lens effect, i.e. a temperature dependent refractive index. Hence, the nitroanisole can induce phase modulation to visible light, in direct response to intensity of the incident IR radiation. The proposed method can be used to obtain the phase modulation distribution that corresponds to the IR intensity distribution, i.e. the IR hologram itself, on the nitroanisole by examining the phase map of visible light that is modulated upon passing through the nitroanisole. The IR wavefront can be reconstructed by calculating extracted IR holograms through the Fresnel transform. It is verified that both the amplitude and the phase of the IR wavefront can be reconstructed accurately by proposed method.     

Recent infrared detector technologies,applications, trends and development of HgCdTe based cooled infrared focal plane arrays and their characterization

Infrared thermal imaging, using cooled and uncooled detectors, is continuously gaining attention because of its wide military and civilian applications. Futuristic requirements of high temperature operation, multispectral imaging, lower cost, higher resolution (using pixels) etc. are driving continuous developments in the field. Although there are good reviews in the literature by Rogalski [1–4], Martyniuk et al. [5] and Rogalski et al. [6] on various types of infrared detectors and technologies, this paper focuses on some of the important recent trends and diverse applications in this field and discusses some important fundamentals of these detectors.     

A novel infrared absorbing structure for uncooled infrared detector

In this paper, we proposed a novel infrared absorbing structure for uncooled infrared detectors. The infrared absorber makes use of a quarter-wavelength structure composed of a dielectric layer, a protecting layer, an active layer, a supporting layer and a reflecting layer. Sputtered amorphous silicon is used as a dielectric layer because of its high refractive index. We fabricated the uncooled microbolometer with the proposed infrared absorbing structure by surface micromachining method. Then we characterized various bolometric properties such as thermal conductance, thermal time constant, responsivity and infrared absorptance. The fabricated bolometer showed the thermal conductance of 6.72 × 10⁻⁷ W/K, the thermal mass of 4.43 × 10⁻⁹ J/K, the thermal time constant of 6.6 ms and the responsivity of 7.76 × 10³ V/W at 10 Hz chopper frequency and 9.22 μA bias current. From the results, the estimated absorptance is about 80%. We expect that the proposed absorbing structure shows high infrared absorption and high performance of uncooled microbolometer.     

Thermophysics modeling of an infrared detector cryochamber for transient operational scenario

An infrared detector (IR) is essentially a transducer capable of converting radiant energy in the infrared regime into a measurable form. The benefit of infrared radiation is that it facilitates viewing objects in dark or through obscured conditions by detecting the infrared energy emitted by them. One of the most significant applications of IR detector systems is for target acquisition and tracking of projectile systems. IR detectors also find widespread applications in the industry and commercial market. The performance of infrared detector is sensitive to temperatures and performs best when cooled to cryogenic temperatures in the range of nearly 120 K. However, the necessity to operate in such cryogenic regimes increases the complexity in the application of IR detectors. This entails a need for detailed thermophysics analysis to be able to determine the actual cooling load specific to the application and also due to its interaction with the environment. This will enable design of most appropriate cooling methodologies suitable for specific scenarios. The focus of the present work is to develop a robust thermo-physical numerical methodology for predicting IR cryochamber behavior under transient conditions, which is the most critical scenario, taking into account all relevant heat loads including radiation in its original form. The advantage of the developed code against existing commercial software (COMSOL, ANSYS, etc.), is that it is capable of handling gas conduction together with radiation terms effectively, employing a ubiquitous software such as MATLAB. Also, it requires much smaller computational resources and is significantly less time intensive. It provides physically correct results enabling thermal characterization of cryochamber geometry in conjunction with appropriate cooling methodology. The code has been subsequently validated experimentally as the observed cooling characteristics are found to be in close agreement with the results predicted using the developed model thereby proving its efficacy.     

红外探测器成像实验研究

红外探测器广泛应用于多光谱成像系统中,文章提出并建立了一种红外线阵时间延迟积分探测器的成像实验系统,阐述了成像系统的工作原理,对影响成像质量的两个主要因素电子稳像与自动对焦进行了深入分析。利用高精度直流测速机确定了转台转速与探测器的行转移频率,采用卡尔曼滤波算法滤除了测速机带来的噪声,提高了速度匹配精度。在分析比较红外相机四种检焦方法的基础上采用视频信号幅度法进行检调焦。在国家光学机械产品质量监督检验测试中心实地搭建了成像实验系统,并分别对5.3,6.4和9.2mm宽度靶标成像。实验结果表明,采集到的原始靶标纹理清晰,照相分辨率达到了每毫米11.3对线,达到了实验预期目的。     

红外探测器封装技术

探讨了目前红外探测器的封装工艺,对红外探测器的机械连接、电连接、窗口气密性焊接、引线盘工艺、表面处理工艺这几个关键工艺技术进行了比较深入细致的分析,总结了影响探测器正常工作的主要因素。     

Laser diode interferometer used for measuring displacements in large range with a nanometer accuracy

In this paper, the displacement of an object is measured with a photothermal phase-modulating laser diode interferometer. A feedback control system is designed to reduce the measurement errors caused by the fluctuations in the optical wavelength of the laser diode and the vibrations of the optical components in the interferometer. A new method is proposed to enlarge the measuring range of displacement. Using this method, the measuring range is enlarged from half wavelength to nearly 125 μm and the measurement accuracy is about 1 nm. The simulation and experimental results have shown the usefulness of the method and the feedback control system.     

小孔干涉仪滤波孔的研究

用惠更斯-基尔霍夫公式对小孔干涉仪的滤波孔进行计算及分析后指出:尽管滤波孔小于爱里斑,滤波孔的位置对参考波的质量仍有影响。在接收面上参考波位相有较大偏移处,往往伴有较大的光强变化(变弱)。给出实验结果,并进行了讨论。     

Schottky barrier diode as an infrared low-level detector

If collisions between carriers and the lattice can be neglected for the space charge region of a Schottky barrier diode (thermionic mode of operation) the infrared response of the diode, when operating as a low-level quadratic detector, has been calculated. It is shown that the limitation in the infrared response is not so much in the voltage response of the detector, but is caused by the large input conductance of the device caused by carriers that have insufficient energy to reach the metal contact.     

Spectral information coding by infrared photoreceptors

Spontaneous pulsing has been observed in circuits containing cryogenically cooled silicon p-i-n (p⁺-n-n⁺) diodes under dc forward bias. The intensity of infrared radiation incident on the diodes controls the pulse rate with no appreciable effect on the shape or size of the pulses. A strong similarity is noted between these properties and the nearly universal means of coding of visual information by animal photoreceptors and neural networks. It is proposed that exploitation of this remarkable analogy could lead to radically new approaches to acquisition and processing of infrared optical information. Infrared analogs of neural color coding and color vision are proposed based on analysis of p-i-n spectral response measurements.     

Development and integration of near atmospheric N2 ambient sputtered Au thin film for enhanced infrared absorption

The exceedingly fragile nature of thermally grown Au-black coating makes handling and patterning a critical issue. Infrared absorption characteristics of near atmospheric, N₂ ambient DC sputtered Au thin films are studied for this purpose. The thin Au films are sputtered at different chamber pressures in Ar and N₂/Ar gas ambient from 4.5 to 8.0 mbar and optimized for enhanced infrared absorption. The absorber film sputtered in N₂/Ar ambient at 8.0 mbar chamber pressure offers significant absorption of medium to long wave infrared radiations. The micro-patterning of sputtered Au thin film is carried out by using conventional photolithography and metal lift off methods on a prefabricated µ-infrared detector array on Si (1 0 0) substrate. The steady state temperature response of sputtered film has been examined using nondestructive thermal imaging method under external heating of the detector array.     

Type-II InAs/GaSb superlattices for very long wavelength infrared detectors

Type-II superlattices (SLs) can be designed for semiconductor band gaps as large as 400 meV down to semimetallic. This flexibility in design makes them an excellent candidate for infrared photodiodes with cut-off wavelengths beyond 15 μm. There are relatively few options for high-performance infrared detectors to cover wavelengths longer than 15 μm, especially for operating temperatures above 15 K. In the past few years, excellent results have been obtained on photoconductive and photodiode samples designed for infrared detection in the very long wavelength infrared (VLWIR) range (λ>15 μm). There is a variety of possible designs for these SLs which will produce the same narrow band gap by adjusting individual layer thicknesses, or indium content, in the InGaSb layer. Several of these different design options have been grown and characterized. These designs often require monolayer control per layer over hundreds of repeats in the SL. Photoresponse spectra for type-II SLs are compared to show how the design choices not only change the band gap but also the band structure, as reflected in features observed in the spectra. Theoretical modeling results are used to interpret the photoresponse spectra. SLs with cut-off wavelengths ranging from 15 to 25 μm are covered.     

Quartz as a pressure sensor in the infrared

The pressure dependence of the 795 cm^?1 mode of quartz has been measured in the infrared up to 20 GPa at 300 and 400 K. For the measurements, which are impossible with a laser light, on photo sensitive or biological samples, we propose to use the pressure dependence of this mode as a pressure gauge.     

Mathematical formulation for verification of the Fresnel and Arago interference laws using a Mach-Zehnder interferometer

In a recent experiment we have shown that the constraints in the yester-experiments to verify the Fresnel and Arago interference laws can be overcome by using the temporal coherence property in a Mach-Zehnder interferometer. In this note we are giving a theoretical treatment to those experimental. This analysis is based on the matrix representation of the electric field and the polarizers.     

Equivalent detector models for the simulation of efficiency response of an HPGe detector with PENELOPE code

ABSTRACT

In this work, some ‘equivalent’ models for the simulation of efficiency response of a High-Purity Germanium (HPGe) detector, installed inside a ‘low background’ bunker in the Engineering Department of the University of Palermo, were developed. The main feature was to attribute the uncertainties of the model to only one of the parameters, the dead layer of the detector, keeping unchanged the other data provided by the manufacturer. With this technique, using the Monte Carlo PENELOPE code in the 2011 version, the efficiency response was evaluated and compared with the previous one performed with MCNP5 code.

The validation of equivalent models is performed by comparing the simulation results with that of experimental spectrometric measurements of calibrated point sources and characterized volumetric sources such as a Marinelli beaker and an air filter reduced to a ‘packet-sample’.

The use of equivalent models makes the evaluation of efficiency curves with a Monte Carlo code easier and faster, and requires only a few experimental values for validation.     

A sinusoidal phase-modulating fiber-optic interferometer insensitive to the intensity change of the light source

In a conventional laser-diode sinusoidal phase-modulating (LD-SPM) interferometer, the wavelength of the LD is modulated by varying its injection current. The intensity modulation concurrent with the wavelength modulation leads to measurement errors. A photothermal-modulation method has been proposed to decrease the intensity change of the LD; however, this method cannot be used to measure vibration with a high frequency, and the beam diameter is too large to be used to measure minute objects. In this paper, we propose LD-SPM fiber-optic interferometer, in which the effect of the intensity change of the light source on measurement is eliminated. The diameter of the light beam is less than 0.5 mm. Using this interferometer, we measured displacements of a mirror driven by a piezoelectric transducer. The measurement repeatability is less than 1 nm.     

Uncooled infrared photodetectors in Poland

The history and present status of the middle and long wavelength Hg_1-xCd_xTe infrared detectors in Poland are reviewed. Research and development efforts in Poland were concentrated mostly on uncooled market niche. Technology of the infrared photodetectors has been developed by several research groups. The devices are based on mercury-based variable band gap semiconductor alloys. Modified isothermal vapour phase epitaxy (ISOVPE) has been used for many years for research and commercial fabrication of photoconductive, photoelectromagnetic and other devices. Bulk growth and liquid phase epitaxy was also used. At present, the fabrication of IR devices relies on low temperature epitaxial technique, namely metalorganic vapour phase deposition (MOCVD), frequently in combination with the ISOVPE. Photoconductive and photoelectromagnetic detectors are still in production. The devices are gradually replaced with photovoltaic devices which offer inherent advantages of no electric or magnetic bias, no heat load and no flicker noise. Potentially, the PV devices could offer high performance and very fast response. At present, the uncooled long wavelength devices of conventional design suffer from two issues; namely low quantum efficiency and very low junction resistance. It makes them useless for practical applications. The problems have been solved with advanced 3D band gap engineered architecture, multiple cell heterojunction devices connected in series, monolithic integration of the detectors with microoptics and other improvements. Present fabrication program includes devices which are optimized for operation at any wavelength within a wide spectral range 1–15 μm and 200–300 K temperature range. Special solutions have been applied to improve speed of response. Some devices show picoseconds range response time. The devices have found numerous civilian and military applications. The paper presented there appears in Infrared Photoelectronics, edited by Antoni Rogalski, Eustace L. Dereniak, Fiodor F. Sizov, Proc. SPIE Vol. 5957, 59570K (2005).     

中、远红外双波段激光器发射光谱测量与评估

在分析中远红外双波段(氟化氘与一氧化碳)激光器发射光谱的基本特征和分光型谱仪存在高级次光谱混叠等问题的基础上,选定Tensor37干涉型遥测光谱仪并利用黑体标定出仪器响应函数;对中、远红外双波段激光器光谱进行了模拟测量和实际测量,分析评估了双波段激光器的谱线成分、峰值变化、测量精度和相对强度等,为双波段激光器的介质参数计算、运转参数优化以及红外应用提供有效数据。