ABSTRACT
Traditionally, infrared (IR) radiation technologies are connected with controlling functions and night-vision problems, with earlier applications connected simply with detection of IR radiation, and later by forming IR images from temperature and emissivity differences. All objects are composed of continually vibrating atoms, with higher energy atoms vibrating more frequently. The vibration of all charged particles, including these atoms, generates electromagnetic waves. Most of the infrared system applications require transmission through air, but the radiation is attenuated by the processes of scattering and absorption. Scattering causes a change in the direction of a radiation beam; it is caused by absorption and subsequent re-radiation of energy by suspended particles. The total radiation received from any object is the sum of the emitted, reflected, and transmitted radiation. Progress in IR detector technology is connected mainly to semiconductor IR detectors, which are included in the class of photon detectors.
