Mid-Infrared Vibrational-Assisted Detectors (MIRVID)

探测中红外(MIR)光对于从大气气体传感到组织的生物医学分类等应用至关重要，因为分子在MIR中以特征的振动键进行吸收。然而，对MIR光的灵敏检测是有问题的，因为与可见光不同，探测器体积大、成本高，而且需要冷却。用于成像的敏感像素化探测器极其昂贵，阻碍了它们在许多应用中的使用。我们已经发明并申请了一种新的方法来更有效地检测MIR光，方法是将其上转换为可见光，在高效的侧面探测器无处不在的地方。虽然上转换是众所周知的，但它在所有材料中的效率都很低，这就需要使用同样昂贵、笨重和昂贵的短脉冲激光来增强它。我们的设备使用远低于光学波长的极端限制光进入铸币金属(如Au或Ag)之间的几纳米缝隙。通过将MIR和可见光限制在相同的间隙中，上转换效率提高了十亿倍以上，使得使用二极管激光或LED照明的紧凑型廉价探测器成为可能。该项目将开发单像素和阵列探测器演示，确定技术规格并将其列表，与欧盟和英国的合作伙伴建立链接，制定IP计划，检查扩大制造的能力，并确定可以进入的市场范围

Detecting mid-infrared (MIR) light is vital for applications ranging from sensing of gases in the atmosphere to biomedical typing oftissues, since molecules absorb at characteristic vibration bonds in the MIR. However sensitive detection of MIR light is problematicbecause unlike for visible light, detectors are bulky, costly and need to be cooled. Sensitive pixelated detectors for imaging areextremely expensive, precluding their use in many applications.We have invented and patented a new way to more efficiently detect MIR light, by upconverting it into the visible where efficient Sidetectors are ubiquitous. While upconversion is known, it is low efficiency in all materials, which has required it to be enhanced usingshort pulse lasers that are also expensive, bulky, and costly. Our devices use extreme confinement of light far below the opticalwavelength into few-nm gaps between coinage metals (such as Au or Ag). By thus confining both MIR and visible light in the samenano-gap, the upconversion efficiency is enhanced more than a billion-fold, enabling compact cheap detectors using diode laser orLED illumination. This leads to MIR detectors that are compact, uncooled, and much lower cost for users.This project will develop single-pixel and array detector demonstrators, identify and tabulate the technical specifications, build links topartners across the EU and UK, develop an IP plan, examine the capability for scale-up fabrication, and scope the range of marketsthat can be accessed