Pixels array matching for optical readout microcantilever array sensing system

An approach based on pixels array matching is proposed for optical readout bimaterial microcantilever focal plane array (FPA) sensing system, by which the CCD's pixel array can match the low resolution FPA properly. Compared with the old method, it has the following three advantages: (1) reduces the impact on the infrared imaging quality due to the bending deformation of the microcantilever pixels; (2) decreases the background noise and lower the infrared imaging system's noise equivalent temperature difference; (3) increases the imaging system's frame rate. A microcantilever FPA infrared imaging system with a programmable smart camera was developed to demonstrate the effectiveness of the approach. In addition, the approach can be applied to a similar optical readout micro-array sensing system whose resolution is lower than the CCD. (C) 2013 Elsevier GmbH. All rights reserved.