The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency has awarded a $1.3 million grant to UCF researchers Debashis Chanda and Michael N. Leuenberger to fund the development of a next-generation infrared detector that could be used in fields as varied as night vision, meteorology and space exploration.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe are working on a novel infrared detection and imaging technology. The detection mechanism is very different than what is being used now,\u201d said Chanda, an assistant professor with joint appointments to UCF\u2019s NanoScience Technology Center and College of Optics & Photonics.<\/p>\n
The work caught the attention of the federal DARPA, which made news recently with fanciful technology like a crewless Navy drone ship, workhorse robots to lug soldiers\u2019 heavy gear, and the XS-1 space plane. DARPA is funding the UCF team\u2019s research for the 3\u00bd years.<\/p>\n
Portable infrared cameras that can see invisible wavelengths of light have long been used by law enforcement, soldiers, firefighters and others to see in the dark or locate people by the body heat they emit. But the blurry images those devices produce are sometimes nothing more than indistinct colored blobs.<\/p>\n
More powerful infrared detectors that produce more detailed images \u2013 ones typically used by NASA and defense agencies \u2013 are large, expensive and can only function at ultra-low temperatures.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe biggest problem is that most infrared detectors need cryogenic cooling, and in most cases you can\u2019t carry a big cooling tank with you,\u201d Chanda said. \u201cThat is a big barrier.\u201d<\/p>\n
Leuenberger, an associate professor of theoretical condensed matter physics at the NanoScience Technology Center with joint appointments at UCF\u2019s Department of Physics and College of Optics & Photonics, is working with Chanda on an entirely new type of detector. It relies on graphene, a two-dimensional material that is only one atomic layer thick.<\/p>\n
Chanda and Leuenberger envision an infrared detector that is small, portable, doesn\u2019t need to be cooled and produces high-resolution images. Unlike current technologies, which can detect only one band of light, the next-gen detector would be tunable and able to see a range of bands.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe came up with the idea that one can make graphene to strongly absorb light in the infrared domain and we showed that we can also tune the response electronically,\u201d Chanda said. \u201cIf you can take an infrared image in different spectral bands, you can extract much more information.\u201d<\/p>\n
The team intends to collaborate with defense majors such as Northrop Grumman, Lockheed Martin and St. Johns Optical Systems for integration and packaging.<\/p>\n
Note: The grant requires this sentence appear on press releases: This information does not necessarily reflect the position or the policy of the Government, and no official endorsement should be inferred.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency has awarded a $1.3 million grant to UCF researchers Debashis Chanda and Michael N. Leuenberger to fund the development of a next-generation infrared detector that could be used in fields as varied as night vision, meteorology and space exploration. \u201cWe are working on a novel infrared detection and imaging technology. The detection mechanism is…","protected":false},"author":30,"featured_media":74053,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"template-twocol.php","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"lazy_load_responsive_images_disabled":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":"","_wp_rev_ctl_limit":""},"categories":[5,23,24],"tags":[981,11131,10899,3279,14916],"tu_author":[],"class_list":["post-72706","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-colleges","category-research","category-science-technology","tag-college-of-optics-and-photonics","tag-debashis-chanda","tag-department-of-physics","tag-nanoscience-technology-center","tag-research"],"yoast_head":"\n