초록 ▼

The invention relates to a cold shielding arrangement for use with either an individual staggered element linear IR array or a staggered arrangement of a plurality of such arrays. The cold shielding arrangement consists of a slitted plate spaced from the arrays, each slit being arranged to restrict

The invention relates to a cold shielding arrangement for use with either an individual staggered element linear IR array or a staggered arrangement of a plurality of such arrays. The cold shielding arrangement consists of a slitted plate spaced from the arrays, each slit being arranged to restrict the field of view of the pixels in both columns of one array in the scanning direction, and a pair of interdigitated pixel level cold shields set on the surface of each array to restrict the field of view of the pixels in the resolution direction.

대표청구항 ▼

In an IR sensor for a scanned staggered element linear array, a combination providing improved cold shielding efficiency, comprising; (A) an enclosure normally maintained at ambient temperature, having an aperture for admitting IR radiation and containing optical means for focusing IR image radiatio

In an IR sensor for a scanned staggered element linear array, a combination providing improved cold shielding efficiency, comprising; (A) an enclosure normally maintained at ambient temperature, having an aperture for admitting IR radiation and containing optical means for focusing IR image radiation entering said aperture upon a focal plane, (B) a cryogenically cooled, evacuated Dewar enclosing said focal plane, said Dewar having an IR transparent window, (C) a staggered linear IR detector array positioned at said focal plane within said Dewar, the axis of the array defining the resolution direction and oriented orthogonal to the scanning direction, the staggered linear array further including first and second columns of pixels, the two columns being spaced apart, with the pixels in the first column being shifted in relation to the pixels in the second column, (D) cold shielding means installed within said Dewar for reducing the amount of unfocused IR radiation impinging on said staggered linear array, comprising (1) a first cold shield comprising an elongated slit spaced from said staggered linear array to intercept radiation exceeding the focused pixel angular field measured in the scanning direction for pixels in each of said columns, and (2) a second and a third cold shield supported in proximity to the pixels in said staggered linear array, the second shield including successive walls disposed between successive first column pixels, and the third shield including successive walls disposed between successive second column pixels, said walls being oriented orthogonal to said array axis to intercept radiation exceeding the focused pixel angular field measured in the resolution direction, said actual pixel angular fields optimizing the ratio of focused image radiation entering said aperture to unfocused IR radiation from said enclosure.