A night vision system including a thermal radiation night vision device for removably mounting to an exterior of a vehicle. The night vision device is to detect thermal radiation for objects present around the vehicle and to create a video with the detected objects. The created video may be communicated to a display device located within an interior region of the vehicle for displaying the video stream to a user driving the vehicle. The system may include a connector having a standard interface to easily and securely connect to a mounting device that is designed to mount to a roof, a light bar, a fender, a grill or a bumper of the vehicle. The mounting device may be configured to replace a portion of a frame of a spotlight mounted to the vehicle in order to secure the thermal radiation night vision device to the spotlight.

A sensing element of an infrared detector including a first absorber configured to form a first set of minority carriers upon receipt of an infrared flux, a collector, a first barrier disposed between the first absorber and the collector, a second absorber configured to form a second set of minority carriers upon receipt of the infrared flux, and a second barrier disposed between the second absorber and the collector. In response to a voltage being applied to the collector, the first and second set of minority carriers are collected at the collector.

An analog-to-digital converter and a thermopile array. The analog-to-digital converter comprises: a reference voltage generation circuit comprising a voltage generation unit; a chopping modulation unit used to perform chopping modulation on a voltage signal generated by the voltage generation unit, and to modulate low frequency noise of the voltage signal into high frequency noise; and a low-pass filter used to eliminate the high frequency noise to obtain a reference voltage. The invention employs a simple structure to obtain a low noise reference voltage at low costs.

The present invention includes an electromagnetic wave detector, and a pair of arm portions and that are positioned on both sides with the electromagnetic wave detector interposed therebetween. The electromagnetic wave detector includes a temperature detection element, and electromagnetic wave absorbers which cover at least a part of the temperature detection element. Each of the arm portions includes a conductor layer which is in a line shape and electrically connected to the temperature detection element, and dielectric layers which are disposed on both sides of the conductor layer. In a short direction of the dielectric layers in a plan view, the conductor layer has a shape protruding outward beyond both end portions of the dielectric layers in the short direction.

A structure body includes: an electromagnetic wave detector; and a pair of arm portions that are positioned on both sides with the electromagnetic wave detector interposed therebetween. The electromagnetic wave detector includes a temperature detection element and an electromagnetic wave absorber which covers at least a part of the temperature detection element. Each of the arm portions includes a wiring layer which is in a line shape and electrically connected to the temperature detection element, and protective layers, a part of each of which is disposed on corresponding one of both sides of the wiring layer. The protective layers are made of a material having a lower thermal conductivity than the wiring layer. In a short direction of the protective layers in a plan view, the wiring layer is positioned on an inward side of both end portions of the protective layers in the short direction.

The present disclosure includes an electromagnetic wave detector, and a pair of arms that are positioned on both sides with the electromagnetic wave detector interposed therebetween. The electromagnetic wave detector includes a temperature detection element, and electromagnetic wave absorbers which cover at least a part of the temperature detection element. The structure body has a structure in which the electromagnetic wave detector is hung or suspended with respect to a substrate facing the electromagnetic wave detector via the pair of arms. Area of a surface of the pair of arms on a side facing the substrate are larger than area of surface thereof on a side opposite to the side facing the substrate.

An example objective of the present invention is to provide a bolometer capable of reducing its manufacturing cost. A bolometer according to an example aspect of the present invention includes: a substrate; and an infrared detection unit comprising a bolometer film, wherein the infrared detection unit is held on the substrate with a gap therebetween by a supporting unit, wherein the bolometer film is a carbon nanotube film includes semiconducting carbon nanotubes in an amount of 67% by mass or more of the total amount of carbon nanotubes, and the thickness of the carbon nanotube film is in the range of 10 nm to 1 μm, and the density of the carbon nanotube film is 0.3 g/cm.sup.3 or more.

This relates to sensor systems, detectors, imagers, and readout integrated circuits (ROICs) configured to selectively detect one or more frequencies or polarizations of light, capable of operating with a wide dynamic range, or any combination thereof. In some examples, the detector can include one or more light absorbers; the patterns and/or properties of a light absorber can be configured based on the desired measurement wavelength range and/or polarization direction. In some examples, the detector can comprise a plurality of at least partially overlapping light absorbers for enhanced dynamic range detection. In some examples, the detector can be capable of electrostatic tuning for one or more flux levels by varying the response time or sensitivity to account for various flux levels. In some examples, the ROIC can be capable of dynamically adjusting at least one of the frame rate integrating capacitance, and power of the illumination source.

A MEMS device includes a bolometer attached to a silicon wafer by a base portion of at least one anchor structure. The base portion comprises a layer stack having a metal-insulator-metal (MIM) configuration such that the base portion acts as a resistive switch such that, when the first DC voltage is applied to the patterned conductive layer, the base portion transitions from a high resistive state to a low resistive state, and, when the second DC voltage is applied to the patterned conductive layer, the base portion transitions from a high resistive state to a low resistive state.

A thermal radiation detection device (1), said device comprising a sensor array (2) comprising a plurality of sensor elements (3) and an optical waveguide (4) having a radiation input end (5) and a radiation output end (6). The radiation input end (5) is configured to receive thermal5 radiation, and the radiation output end (6) is operatively connected to the sensor array (2). The optical waveguide (4) is configured to transmit the received thermal radiation as a plurality of simultaneous thermal radiation signals. By decoupling the sensor array from the radiation input end, the relatively large sensor array can be placed in a position optimal for electronic functionality and optimal in view of mechanical constraints, independent of the radiation input position.