Electromagnetic radiation detector

A radiation detector comprising:

• an array of micromachined cantilever elements, each cantilever element including first and second layers with the first layer being formed of a first radiation absorbing material and the second layer being formed of a second highly reflective material;
• the first and second materials have different coefficients of thermal expansion whereby each cantilever element bends in proportion to the amount of radiation energy absorbed by the first layer and converted into heat, each cantilever element being formed such that its first radiation absorbing layer is exposed to enable it to directly receive, without any intervening layer, incident electromagnetic signals emitted by an object whose image is to be detected and its second highly reflective layer is exposed to enable it to directly receive and reflect, without any intervening layer, illumination incident thereon;
• the first layer of all the cantilever elements of the array being arranged for receiving electromagnetic radiation (EMR) signals;
• and
• the second layer of all the cantilever elements of the array being arranged for receiving incident illumination and each cantilever element reflecting the incident illumination at an angle proportional to the extent it is bent.

A radiation detector comprising:

• an array of micromachined cantilever elements, each cantilever element including first and second layers with the first layer being formed of a first radiation absorbing material and the second layer being formed of a second highly reflective material;
• the first and second materials have different coefficients of thermal expansion whereby each cantilever element bends in proportion to the amount of radiation energy absorbed by the first layer and converted into heat;
• and
• means for illuminating the second layer of each cantilever element of the array including means for sweeping a light beam across the second layer of each cantilever element for sensing the angle of light reflected from each cantilever element and determining the amount of radiation energy absorbed by each cantilever element of the array.