Optical and Infrared Detectors (Topics in Applied Physics)

This volume is written for those who desire a comprehensive analysis of the latest developments in infrared detector technology and a basic insight into the fundamental processes which are important to evolving detection techniques. Each of the most salient infrared detector types is treated in detail by authors who are recognized as leading authorities in the specific areas addressed. In order to concentrate on pertinent aspects of the present state of the detector art and the unique point of view of each author, extensive tutorials of a background nature are avoided in the text but are readily available to the reader through the many references given. The volume opens with a broad-brush introduction to the various types of infrared detectors that have evolved since Sir William Herschel's discovery of infrared radiation 175 years ago. The second chapter presents an overall perspective of the infrared detector art and serves as the cohesive cement for the more in-depth presentation of subsequent chapters. Those detector types which, for one reason or other have not attained wide use today, are also discussed in Chapter 2. The more notable and widely used infrared detectors can be divided into three basic classes which are indicative of the primary effect produced by the photon-detector interaction, i.e., thermal, photoconductive, photo voltaic, and photoemissive. Chapters 3, 4, and 5 offer a detailed treatment of each of these important processes.