ABSTRACT
Thermal effect transducers are those responding to the aggregate effect of absorbed photons as detected in temperature changes. Since any cell large enough to support and drive a temperature sensor contains many molecules, these transducers are ordinarily of use in restricted circumstances multiphotons of low energy integrated for observable effect. An overview of some of these thermal detectors follows. Infrared focal planes developed for space applications customarily are optimized for low to intermediate backgrounds and employ the highest-performance unit cell available that is consistent with the operating conditions of wavelength, focal plane temperature, and infrared background. Since the photon energy required depends on the dopant impurity, these detectors can be implemented in wide-band gap semiconductors such as silicon. Lead-tin-telluride was fabricated into detectors starting in 1965. Data on the various forms of photon detectors for visible radiations can be found in standard reference works.
