FLIR ARRAY ALTERNATIVE

NEW MATERIALS TO DIRECTLY UPCONVERT 1 TO 12 MICRON INFRARED IMAGES TO VISIBLE HAVE BEEN DEVELOPED BY QUANTEX IN THE PAST YEAR. THESE MATERIALS ARE A NEW GROUP OF DOPED SEMICONDUCTORS WHICH HAVE PURPOSELY TAILORED ELECTRON TRAP DEPTHS SELECTED FROM 85 MEV TO 1.3 EV. ONCE THE TRAPS ARE FILLED BY A VISIBLE PUMP LIGHT, THEY CAN REMAIN SO FOR EXTREMELY LONG TIMES UNTIL TRIGGERED TO VISIBLE EMISSION BY INFRARED PHOTONS. THIS PROPOSED WORK WILL EVALUATE THESE MATERIALS FOR CONVERSION EFFICIENCY AND EQUIVALENT NOISE AS A FUNCTION OF TEMPERATURE FOR INFRARED INPUT, ESPECIALLY IN THE 3-5 MICRON AND 8-14 MICRON WAVELENGTH RANGES. IT IS EXPECTED, FROM VERY RECENT INITIAL OBSERVATIONS, THAT THESE NEW ELECTRON TRAPPING (ET) MATERIALS COULD BE DEVELOPED FOR EFFICIENT, VERY LOW NOISE INFRARED IMAGE CONVERTERS OUT TO 14 MICRONS. THEN COMMONLY AVAILABLE VISIBLE-WAVELENGHT HIGHEFFICIENCY OPTO-ELECTRONICS COULD EASILY BE UTILIZED FOR DISPLAY SYSTEMS, ETC.