Infrared Radiation

Optics is reborn. There is fresh new vitality in applying old techniques to new prob lems and fully exploring novel phenomena. Lasers, holography, stellar navigation, nonlinear phenomena, and remote sensing are subjects of the seventies, and their further development will increase our understanding of nature and the development of technology. This Series is devoted to provid ing ideas and data to nourish the growth of these scientific and engineering en deavors' for we feel strongly that science and engineering flourish best when they grow together. Some of the volumes in the Series will be devoted to the optical properties of materials, theories of the detailed mechanisms of absorption, reflection, and nonlinea r phenomena, and electro-optical coefficients. The understanding of such things leads to further engineering applications. Companions to such theoretical books will be compendia of property data; the triad is completed by monographs on the use of the materials in op tical and electro-optical systems. Laser materials, lasers, and laser sys tems form one of the groups which will comprise the full set of ready-reference material for the entire field. The Series will be intentionally international, including a fair sampling of Russian work. There are important benefits to be obtained in the alternate approaches often taken by our Soviet and other foreign colleagues (just as they can gain from studying ours).

This text treats the fundamentals of optical and infrared detection in terms of the behavior of the radiation field, the physical properties of the detector, and the statistical behavior of the detector output. Both incoherent and coherent detection are treated in a unified manner, after which selected applications are analyzed, following an analysis of atmospheric effects and signal statistics. The material was developed during a one-semester course at M.I.T. in 1975, revised and presented again in 1976 at Lincoln Laboratory, and rewritten for publication in 1977. Chapter 1 reviews the derivation of Planck's thermal radiation law and also presents several fundamental concepts used throughout the text. These include the three thermal distribution laws (Boltzmann, Fermi-Dirac, Bose Einstein), spontaneous and stimulated emission, and the definition and counting of electromagnetic modes of space. Chapter 2 defines and analyzes the perfect photon detector and calculates the ultimate sensitivity in the presence of thermal radiation. In Chapter 3, we turn from incoherent or power detection to coherent or heterodyne detection and use the concept of orthogonal spatial modes to explain the antenna theorem and the mixing theorem. Chapters 4 through 6 then present a detailed analysis of the sensitivity of vacuum and semiconductor detectors, including the effects of amplifier noise.

The rather specialized field of solar and infrared radiation measurement has become more and more important in the face of growing demands by the renewable energy and climate change research communities for data that are more accurate and have increased temporal and spatial resolution. Updating decades of acquired knowledge in the field, Solar and Infrared Radiation Measurements details the strengths and weaknesses of instruments used to conduct such solar and infrared radiation measurements. Topics covered include: Radiometer design and performance Equipment calibration, installation, operation, and maintenance Data quality assessment Methods to use measured data to estimate irradiance for any surface With a broad range of content that will benefit students and more experienced readers alike, this resource serves as a primer and technical reference that presents the basic terminology and fundamentals for resource assessment. It explores the history of solar radiation instruments and addresses direct normal, global, diffuse, and tilted measurements, as well as the characteristics of instruments used for these measurements. The authors consider methods of assessing the uncertainty of solar measurements and then cover albedo, infrared, net, and spectral irradiance measurements and instrumentation. The book devotes a section to other meteorological instruments, and another to the basics for installing and operating a solar monitoring station. Appendices include information on solar resource assessment modeling and satellite-derived irradiance, along with other useful material. This book’s authors are experts who each have more than 30 years of experience developing and operating multiple measurement stations, working with industry to improve radiometry, and conducting various research projects.

This book represents a collection of scientific articles covering the field of infrared radiation. It offers extensive information about current scientific research and engineering developments in this area. Each chapter has been thoroughly revised and each represents significant contribution to the scientific community interested in this matter. Developers of infrared technique, technicians using infrared equipment and scientist that have interest in infrared radiation and its interaction with medium will comprise the main readership as they search for current studies on the use of infrared radiation. Moreover this book can be useful to students and postgraduates with appropriate specialty and also for multifunctional workers.

Every second of every day, the sun emits wave after wave of radiation hurling toward our planet. Even though we can't see most of this radiation with the naked eye, scientists have learned how to use these invisible waves to our advantage. From infrared systems to guide missiles to ultraviolet-sterilized laboratory work areas, visible light's closest neighbors on the electromagnetic spectrum have a lot to offer us. This book explores the science and discovery of infrared and ultraviolet radiation, as well as the ingenious ways scientists and engineers have used them, including in common household devices such as remote controls for our televisions and in cutting-edge medical treatments.

The rather specialized field of solar and infrared radiation measurement has become more and more important in the face of growing demands by the renewable energy and climate change research communities for data that are more accurate and have increased temporal and spatial resolution. Updating decades of acquired knowledge in the field, Solar and Infrared Radiation Measurements details the strengths and weaknesses of instruments used to conduct such solar and infrared radiation measurements. Topics covered include: Radiometer design and performance Equipment calibration, installation, operation, and maintenance Data quality assessment Methods to use measured data to estimate irradiance for any surface With a broad range of content that will benefit students and more experienced readers alike, this resource serves as a primer and technical reference that presents the basic terminology and fundamentals for resource assessment. It explores the history of solar radiation instruments and addresses direct normal, global, diffuse, and tilted measurements, as well as the characteristics of instruments used for these measurements. The authors consider methods of assessing the uncertainty of solar measurements and then cover albedo, infrared, net, and spectral irradiance measurements and instrumentation. The book devotes a section to other meteorological instruments, and another to the basics for installing and operating a solar monitoring station. Appendices include information on solar resource assessment modeling and satellite-derived irradiance, along with other useful material. This book’s authors are experts who each have more than 30 years of experience developing and operating multiple measurement stations, working with industry to improve radiometry, and conducting various research projects.

The rather specialized field of solar and infrared radiation measurements has become increasingly important due to the increased demands by the renewable energy and climate change research communities for data with higher accuracy and increased temporal and spatial resolutions. Recent advances in radiometry, measurement systems, and information dissemination also have increased the need for refreshing the literature available for this topic. This book provides the reader with an up-to-date review of the important aspects of solar and infrared radiation measurements: radiometer design; equipment installation, operation, maintenance, and calibration; data quality assessment parameters; and the knowledge necessary to properly interpret and apply the measured data to a variety of topics. Each of the authors has more than 40 years of experience with this subject, primarily as the result of developing and operating multiple measurement stations, working with the industry to improve radiometry, and conducting various research projects. The book’s scope and subject matter have been designed to help a wide audience gain a general understanding of this subject and to serve as a technical reference. A student new to the field will benefit from the review of terminology and the historical perspective for radiometry before addressing more detailed topics in radiometry that we hope will be of interest to the more experienced reader.  Describes the strengths and weaknesses of irradiance instruments  Provides detailed information on how to assess uncertainty in measurements  Offers comprehensive background information needed to understand the use of solar instrumentation  Discusses design concepts for shadowband radiometers, sky imagers, and satellite-based estimates of solar irradiance at the Earth’s surface  Includes chapter-end questions, references, and useful links