Imaging bolometer
AssigneeThe Regents of the University of California
InventorGlen A. Wurden
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
Radiation-hard, steady-state imaging bolometer. A bolometer employing infrared (IR) imaging of a segmented-matrix absorber of plasma radiation in a cooled-pinhole camera geometry is described. The bolometer design parameters are determined by modeling the temperature of the foils from which the absorbing matrix is fabricated by using a two-dimensional time-dependent solution of the heat conduction equation. The resulting design will give a steady-state bolometry capability, with approximately 100 Hz time resolution, while simultaneously providing hundreds of channels of spatial information. No wiring harnesses will be required, as the temperature-rise data will be measured via an IR camera. The resulting spatial data may be used to tomographically investigate the profile of plasmas.
Claims7
An bolometer for imaging plasmas, which comprises in combination:
- a. a segmented matrix comprising a metal foil having one face thereof exposed to radiation emitted from the plasma and disposed between and in thermal contact with a first thermally conducting mask closest to the plasma and a second thermally conducting mask, said first mask and said second mask having an aligned plurality of holes therethrough which define absorbing segments of said foil, and means for cooling said first mask and said second mask such that said first mask and said second mask act as a heat sink for the foil segments exposed to the radiation from the plasma;
- b. a body interposed between the radiation emitted from the plasma and said segmented matrix having a pinhole through which radiation emitted from the plasma is imaged onto said segmented matrix through said first mask;
- and
- c. an infrared camera, located such that said segmented matrix blocks radiation from the plasma from impinging thereon, for viewing infrared emission from the absorbing segments of said foil through said second mask and detecting the change in temperature of the absorbing segments resulting from the heating thereof by the incident radiation from the plasma.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.