Characterization and performance of optomechanical uncooled infrared imaging system

An uncooled infrared (IR) imaging system based on thermomechanical deformation of bi-material cantilever beams combined with optical detection of beam deflection has been developed. The focal plane array (FPA) contains 300 X 300 cantilever sensors, which are optimized to detect IR radiation in the 8-14 mum wavelength range. Noise and response analysis show that the noise-equivalent temperature difference (NETD) of the system is, 200 mK using f/1. IR optics and 10 Hz frame capture rate. The NETD is found to be limited by the shot noise of the visible CCD imager used in the optical readout. Statistical correlation between two repeated tests separated by 10 minutes shows that the response of over 70 percent pixels are repeatable to within 60 percent.