Microphotonic Thermal Detectors and Imagers
نویسندگان
چکیده
ABSTRACT We present the theory of operation along with detailed device designs and initial experimental results of a new class of uncooled thermal detectors. The detectors, termed microphotonic thermal detectors, are based on the thermo-optic effect in high quality factor (Q) micrometer-scale optical resonators. Microphotonic thermal detectors do not suffer from Johnson noise, do not require metallic connections to the sensing element, do not suffer from charge trapping effects, and have responsivities orders of magnitude larger than microbolometer-based thermal detectors. For these reasons, microphotonic thermal detectors have the potential to reach thermal phonon noise limited performance.
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T he advent of high-quality-factor (high-Q) micrometre-scale optical resonators has led to the demonstration of high-fidelity optical sensors. These devices can be used for various types of sensing — mechanical, biological and chemical, for example — and often have far better sensitivity than conventional techniques. Microphotonic resonators could also be useful as uncooled thermal detectors, o...
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