An infrared camera developed by engineers can be used to see through fog; easily locate the blood vessels on the patient; and look through the silicon wafers to check the quality of the electronic board. It is also slim, compact, and less expensive to build than similar technologies.
See through smoke and fog, map a person’s blood vessels while monitoring heart rate – without skin contact; look through the silicon wafers to check the quality and composition of the electronic board. Those are some of the many functions of infrared camera new, developed by a team of researchers led by electrical engineers at the University of California San Diego. The camera detects a part of the infrared spectrum known as shortwave infrared light (wavelengths between 1000 and 1400 nanometers), which lies just outside the visible spectrum (400 to 700 nanometers). Shortwave infrared imaging, unlike thermal imaging, detects much longer infrared wavelengths emitted by the body. The camera works by shining short-wave infrared light at an object or area of interest, then converting the reflected low-energy infrared light back to the device into shorter, high-energy wavelengths. than the human eye can see. “It makes invisible light visible,” said Tina Ng, professor of electrical and computer engineering at UC San Diego Jacobs School of Engineering. When technology Infrared imaging has been around for decades, where most systems are expensive, cumbersome, and complex, often requiring a separate camera and monitor. They are also often made with inorganic semiconductors, which are expensive, hard, and contain toxic elements such as arsenic and lead. The infrared camera that Ng’s team has developed overcomes these problems. It combines sensors and display into a slim, compact and simple device. It is made of organic semiconductors, so it is low cost, flexible and safe for use in biomedical applications. It also offers better image resolution than some of its inorganic versions. The camera is made up of multiple layers of semiconductors, each hundreds of nanometers thin, stacked on top of each other. Three of these layers, each made of a different organic polymer, are the key elements of the image: the photodetector layer, the organic light-emitting diode (OLED) display layer, and the blocking layer. electrons in the middle. The photodetector layer absorbs shortwave infrared light (low energy photons) and then generates an electric current. This current flows to the OLED display layer, where it is converted into a visible image (high-energy photons). An intermediate layer, called an electron block, keeps the OLED display layer from losing any current. This is what allows the device to produce clearer images. Another special feature is camera effective in providing optical and electronic indicators. “This makes it multifunctional,” says Li. For example, when the researchers shined infrared light on the back of the subject’s hand, the camera provided an image of the subject’s blood vessels while recording the subject’s heart rate. The researchers also used their infrared camera to see through the fog and a silicon wafer. In one test, they placed an “EXIT” patterned photosphere in a small room filled with smog. In another setting, they placed a photorealist patterned “UCSD” behind a silicon wafer. Infrared light penetrates both smog and silicon, making it possible for the imagineer to see the letters in these illustrations. This would be useful for applications such as helping self-driving cars see in bad weather and checking for silicon faults. The researchers are currently working to improve the performance of this type of camera.
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