New Horizons for Uncooled IR Sensors
Abstract
The performance requirements for space-based IR imaging sensors are generally so severe that uncooled detector technologies have historically been ignored - and rightly so. The reasons for this have often been inaccurately represented on the basis of theoretical analysis with unnecessary assumptions. This paper shows that the performance of uncooled or minimally- cooled IR detectors can approach or even exceed that of cooled photon detectors. It also describes the practical barriers to achieving such performance. A detailed analysis of signal and noise shows that the background- limited performance of a well-designed thermal detector is not much different from that of a photon detector. The analysis also shows that these distinct detector types are optimally suited for different types of applications. The barriers to achieving background- limited sensitivity are quite different for thermal detectors. In this paper we quantify the barriers, and discuss their implications.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Jul 29, 2002
- Accession Number
- ADA408283
Entities
People
- Charles M. Hanson
Organizations
- RTX