Appeal No. 2006-3241
Application No. 10/834,332
BACKGROUND
According to appellant, the invention relates to methods and devices for sensing
an imaging infrared, sub-millimeter, and high-energy radiation by means of optical
temperature sensors of microscopic dimensions and very small thermal mass attached
to absorbers of the radiation. Claim 1 is reproduced below.
1. An essentially planar detector of electromagnetic or other radiation,
said detector including an essentially planar absorber of said radiation having
dimensions, area and thermal mass not substantially greater than minimally
needed for the capture of a desired fraction of the intensity of said radiation
incident on the detector and at least one temperature probe attached to or
incorporated into said absorber and comprised of a photoluminescent material so
characterized that, when illuminated with light of suitable visible or near infrared
wavelengths λV, and an intensity P0, it absorbs a fraction αP0 of the intensity of
said illuminating light, thereby generating a luminescence light separable from
the illuminating light, at least part of the intensity of which is emitted from the
probe at visible or near infrared wavelengths λf different from λV, where α is a
temperature-dependent fraction smaller than unity, the value of which varying in
a known manner with varying temperature within the temperature range of
operation of the probe, the intensity of said luminescence light being substantially
proportional to the value of α, the detector being characterized by undergoing a
temperature rise upon the absorption of said radiation and further so
characterized that its thermal mass at its operating temperature is not
significantly greater than 1.1 times the mass of said absorber alone.
The examiner relies on the following references:
Urbach US 2,642,538 Jun. 16, 1953
Tricoire US 3,796,884 Mar. 12, 1974
Kolodner US 4,819,658 Apr. 11, 1989
Wickersheim US 5,304,809 Apr. 19, 1994
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