Six Major Uses for Counting Infrared Detectors

Infrared detectors are devices used to detect such optical signals that are invisible to the human eye. It transforms the infrared light signal into a measurable physical quantity to achieve perception.

After several generations of development, infrared detectors have evolved from cells to focal plane arrays. The infrared focal plane is divided according to the cooling mode, and is divided into a cooling focal plane array and an uncooled focal plane array.

The contrast between the background temperature of the cooled detector and the detected temperature determines the ideal resolution of the detector, so the background temperature must be drastically reduced to improve detector accuracy. Refrigeration detectors have been developed early and widely used: HgCdTe detectors, InSb detectors and quantum well detectors. Uncooled detectors can operate at room temperature, mainly including microbolometers, pyroelectric detectors, and thermopile detectors.

As long as it is not at absolute zero, infrared radiation is present in objects in the Earth’s temperature environment. Therefore, infrared has a particularly important position in target detection in the global environment. Compared with other means, infrared detection has the characteristics of strong concealment, small adverse weather, suitable for night use, and strong ability to identify targets.

Infrared systems involve imaging, imaging spectroscopy, intelligent detection, etc. So, where can the infrared detectors be used?

一、Weather Forecast

Because of the wind cloud series of meteorological satellites, ocean series satellites, day and night monitoring, and sending satellite cloud maps, typhoon predictions are becoming more and more accurate. In particular, the infrared detector component on the satellite is placed on the satellite as a remote sensing instrument to observe various images.

二、The Ground Imaging

The larger the size of the infrared detector, the clearer it is. The large-scale is the pixel. The largest scale is the 64 million pixels made in the United States. During the Wenchuan earthquake, China and the United States negotiated and asked the US to send satellites to observe the disaster over Wenchuan.

三、Military Reconnaissance

Infrared reconnaissance is divided into ground, sea, air and space reconnaissance. Space reconnaissance mainly refers to the use of infrared remote sensing equipment on reconnaissance satellites to carry out reconnaissance and surveillance of targets from space orbit. China’s commercial satellites have been able to capture clear pictures of US military shipyards.

四、Environmental Monitoring

In 2011, the accident at the Fukushima nuclear power plant in Japan, radioactive material leakage, and the US Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration announced the predicted results of the polluted seawater flow, which was based on infrared imaging. To achieve accurate identification, the infrared detector structure is more complicated, and a multi-chamber device is used, which is identified by using different wavelengths of different channels.

五、Airport Security Check

Scientists are working to extend the detector’s band to terahertz. Because terahertz waves have a certain depth of transmission, they have important applications in imaging, such as airport security, defense, and trench oil testing. In front of the terahertz human body security device, the hidden weapons of the terrorists are revealed.

六、Smart Medical

The application of intelligent detectors is an important development direction of optical systems. Future smart planets, smart cities, and smart healthcare all rely on sensors, detectors, and their analysis. For example, if the captain of the civil aviation wears a wearable device with a sensor and sends the electrocardiogram to the analysis center at any time, it can analyze whether the electrocardiogram is normal according to the model, thereby preventing the air crash.

The infrared detector has such a powerful function, and quickly install a detector for detecting thieves in your home.