skip to main content
OSTI.GOV title logo U.S. Department of Energy
Office of Scientific and Technical Information

Title: Infrared retina

Patent ·
OSTI ID:1034324

Exemplary embodiments provide an infrared (IR) retinal system and method for making and using the IR retinal system. The IR retinal system can include adaptive sensor elements, whose properties including, e.g., spectral response, signal-to-noise ratio, polarization, or amplitude can be tailored at pixel level by changing the applied bias voltage across the detector. "Color" imagery can be obtained from the IR retinal system by using a single focal plane array. The IR sensor elements can be spectrally, spatially and temporally adaptive using quantum-confined transitions in nanoscale quantum dots. The IR sensor elements can be used as building blocks of an infrared retina, similar to cones of human retina, and can be designed to work in the long-wave infrared portion of the electromagnetic spectrum ranging from about 8 .mu.m to about 12 .mu.m as well as the mid-wave portion ranging from about 3 .mu.m to about 5 .mu.m.

Research Organization:
Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL), Los Alamos, NM (United States)
Sponsoring Organization:
USDOE
DOE Contract Number:
AC52-06NA25396
Assignee:
STC.UNM (Albuquerque, NM); Arizona Board of Regents on behalf of the University of Arizona (Tucson, AZ)
Patent Number(s):
8,071,945
Application Number:
12/184,491
OSTI ID:
1034324
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English