Abstract:
To provide sufficient sensitivity, spectral resolution and speed of measurement for field environmental measurements in a portable spectroradiometer, a silicon photodiode receives light: (1) having a bandwidth in the range of between 2 and 15 nm (nanometers) from a pivotable concave holographic diffraction grating within the wavelength range of between 250 and 1150 nm at a scanning rate in the range of 20 to 100 nm per second; (2) having stray light of high intensity and undesired frequencies and the shorter wavelength harmonics of the selected frequency range blocked by filters; and (3) having flux of a least 10 microwatts per square meter of diffuser plate for each nanometer of bandwidth. Automatic electrical zeroing is obtained by blocking all light once at the beginning of each scan, obtaining an electrical drift-related signal and using the drift signal to ad- just the measured signal during the scan. Several different sensing interfaces can be used, including a quartz, light fiber probe having at least a 50% packing density and a cone angle of at least 24 degrees. The data and the programming storage is at least 30K bytes but the instrument uses no more than two watts of power when the instrument is not scanning.
Abstract:
A radiation detector includes a plurality of detector elements (2) arranged on a detector substrate (4) in an interdigitated linear array. A thermoelectric or other cooler (27) is attached to the lower surface of the detector substrate (4). A pair of interconnect boards (28, 30) is positioned on opposite sides of the detector substrate (4). These elements (4, 27, 28, 30) are placed in a sealed housing (12, 14, 16, 18, 20, 22) and a radiation transmitting window (26) in the housing permits radiation to pass into the housing and strike the detector elements (2). A plurality of conductive pins (34) extends through the housing and terminates at electrical traces (32, 40, 42, 48, 50, 52, 54) on the interconnect boards. A thermistor (46) or other temperature sensor is attached to the detector substrate (4) and, through control of the thermoelectric cooler (27), maintains the detector substrate (4) at a desired operating temperature.