The effort in Japan to develop Type 2 Superlattice (T2SL) FPAs in Japan has taken a big step forward. Researchers at Sumitomo Electric, JAXA (Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency) and Ritsumeikan University have fabricated a 320 x 256/30 InAs/GaSb FPA with a 6 µm cutoff and an NETD of 31mK.
New Support for Small Pixel Uncooled Microbolometers
Ritsumeikan University Has a Solution
Researchers at Ritsumeikan University have developed a very low-cost thermal array that is more than a spot thermal sensor, but not quite a staring focal plane array. The device, dubbed Infrared Position Sensitive Detector (IRPSD), is an array of uncooled thermopiles, which is not intended to form an image, but provide position information on the object being viewed.