Photonic- and phononic-structured pixel for electromagnetic radiation and detection
OwnerWilliam N. Carrinventor
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A thermal pixel configured as an electromagnetic emitter and/or an electromagnetic detector. The thermal pixel comprises a micro-platform suspended with semiconductor nanowires from a surrounding support platform. The nanowires comprise phononic structure providing a decrease in thermal conductivity. In some embodiments, the pixel is structured for operation within a broad bandwidth or a limited bandwidth. Metamaterial and/or photonic crystal filters provide pixel operation over a limited bandwidth. In some other embodiments, the micro-platform comprises a nanotube structure providing a broadband emission/absorption spectral response.
Claims20
An electromagnetic thermal pixel (ETP) including photonic structure and phononic structure, the ETP comprising:
- a substrate having a substantially planar surface;
- a cavity formed from the substrate;
- a thermal micro-platform disposed within the cavity and suspended from the substrate by a plurality of nanowires;
- wherein,
- the phononic structure comprises:
- (i) a first layer of semiconductor disposed within at least one of the nanowires of the plurality, the first layer providing electrical conductivity;
- (ii) a phononic scattering structure and/or phononic resonant structure providing a reduction in thermal conductivity;
- the photonic structure comprises:
- (i) photonic nonresonant structure and/or photonic resonant structure providing emissivity and/or absorptivity of electromagnetic radiation within a range of one or more of visible, NIR, MWIR, LWIR, and millimeter wavelengths, and
- wherein the ETP further comprises at least one of a temperature sensor, a resistive heater, an infrared radiation source, a Peltier cooler, and a self-cooling micro-refrigerator.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.