Looking for rainbows in the moonlight

成像性能仍然从根本上受到探测器技术的限制。例如，基于硅半导体的移动相机技术，尽管最近在空间分辨率和百万像素计数方面取得了很大进展(最新的是诺基亚的&gt；40M像素)，但仍然可以在夜间或弱光环境下拍摄颗粒状的视频片段。同样，安装在高速装配线上的工业机器视觉摄像头无法分辨非常小或很暗的物体，从而限制了制造速度。此外，科学家无法描述新的和现有的材料，这些材料要求成像仪同时具有高空间分辨率和高灵敏度(例如在荧光显微镜或数字病理学中)。类似的问题也出现在医学成像中，灵敏度和读出速度是新兴的基于平板的断层成像系统的关键限制，这些系统有望取代传统的3D成像模式。让这些技术挑战更加混乱的是对可持续性的担忧。例如，许多探测器技术依赖于面临单一供应情况(目前中国提取了90%的稀土)或毒性(镉、汞和铅化合物正在减少，这在很大程度上是因为大多数政府认识到它们可能对生物有机体造成相当大的危害)的材料。*拟议研究计划的主要目标是开发使用非晶态半导体的高性能固态探测器平台技术。目标应用领域包括消费电子产品(例如微光移动视频)、科学成像(例如高灵敏度荧光显微成像和数字病理学)、工业成像(例如高速机器视觉)和医学成像(平板计算机断层扫描、三维乳房X射线断层成像和正电子发射断层扫描)。这项研究计划的主要目标是建立两个引人注目的技术演示，一个用于消费电子领域，另一个用于医疗成像领域。第一个引人注目的演示将是使用固态半导体成像器技术在月光下捕捉到彩虹的高分辨率彩色图像。第二个引人注目的演示将是使用高分辨率、双能量、单光子计数X射线成像仪的小规模1英寸原型对乳腺癌样本进行成像。*消费电子和医疗成像行业都代表着高端制造业的精华--竞争激烈、利润丰厚、具有重要战略意义的驱动力，推动新技术催生新行业和现有行业的大幅增长。一个鼓舞人心的演示是必要的，以(1)吸引大量研究人员支持正在开发的新数字成像平台，以及(2)鼓励本地现有或初创公司加快步伐，进入一个具有全球竞争力的行业。

Imaging performance is still fundamentally limited by detector technology. For example, mobile camera technology that is based on silicon semiconductor, for all its recent advances in spatial resolution and megapixel counts (the latest being >40 Mpixels by Nokia), still shoots grainy looking video clips at night or in low light level settings. Similarly, industrial machine vision cameras installed on high-speed assembly lines cannot resolve very small or dim objects, limiting manufacturing speed. Moreover, scientists cannot characterize new and existing materials that require the imager to have both, high spatial resolution and high sensitivity (e.g. in fluorescence microscopy or digital pathology). A similar problem occurs in medical imaging with sensitivity and readout speeds being a key limitation for emerging flat panel based tomography systems that are poised to replace traditional 3D imaging modalities. Confounding these technological challenge further are sustainability concerns. For example, many detector technologies rely on materials that face a single supply situation (90% of rare earths are extracted in China today) or toxicity (Cd, Hg and Pb compounds are on the decline in large part due to the recognition by most governments of the considerable harm they can cause to biological organisms). * The primary objective of the proposed research program is to develop high performance solid-state detector platform technologies using amorphous semiconductors. Target application areas include consumer electronics (e.g. low light mobile video), scientific imaging (e.g. high sensitivity fluorescence micros-copy and digital pathology), industrial imaging (e.g. high speed machine vision), and medical imaging (flat panel computed tomography, 3D mammography tomosynthesis and positron emission tomography). A primary goal of this research program is to build two compelling technology demonstrator, one for the consumer electronics sector and the other for the medical imaging sector. The first compelling demonstration will be to capture a high-resolution color image of a rainbow in the moonlight using solid-state semiconductor imager technology. The second compelling demonstration will be to image a breast cancer specimen using a small scale 1" prototype of a high-resolution, dual energy, single photon counting X-ray imager.* Both consumer electronics and medical imaging sectors represent the best of the high-end manufacturing industry - highly competitive, extremely lucrative and strategically important drivers for new technologies that spawn new industries and substantial growth in existing industries. An inspiring demonstrator is necessary to (1) attract a critical mass of researchers to sustain the new digital imaging platform that is being developed and (2) to encourage local existing or start-up companies to step up and enter a globally competitive industry.