Microbolometer arrays image T-rays
From SPIE Professional April 2006
Microbolometer arrays image T-rays
Kristin Lewotsky
By merging radio techniques and chip-level fabrication, researchers expect to build 19-element arrays capable of 1 cm resolution.
The technical challenges with terahertz imaging don’t stop with sources. Detectors, particularly the types of dense array detectors suitable for imaging, are still lacking. That is a need that Heinz-Wilhelm Hübers, head of the department of terahertz and IR sensors at the German aerospace center DLR (Berlin, Germany), aims to address. Hübers and colleagues are working to develop array-based superconducting microbolometers. “Our main application right now is security,” says Hübers, though he adds that the technology will also benefit astronomical and atmospheric sensing applications.
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