Brown University School of Engineering professors Pradeep Guduru and Jacob Rosenstein are developing a ten million frame-per-second infrared (IR) microscope, to measure highly transient, localized temperature fields in materials at unprecedented temporal and spatial resolutions.
Supported by a $1 million, three-year grant from the W. M. Keck Foundation, the ultra high speed imager would open up avenues of scientific inquiry that are currently not possible. The temporal resolution of the proposed IR microscope represents an improvement of several orders of magnitude over commercially available systems. The project involves developing a new image-acquisition architecture and incorporating state-of-the-art advances in integrated-circuit design and nano-fabrication technologies. Guduru is leading the research, collaborating with co-PI Rosenstein.
The proposed system consists of the design, fabrication, and integration of multiple sub-systems in a cryogenic vacuum chamber: a HgCdTe detector focal-plane-array (FPA) with 32×32 pixels capable of measuring temperatures over a range of 300K–1500K; a state-of-the-art cryogenic CMOS Read-Out Integrated-Circuit (ROIC) for simultaneous high-speed data acquisition from all pixels of the FPA; and a custom-designed IR optical imaging system to achieve diffraction-limited spatial resolution.
The instrument will provide a transformative measurement capability to enable fundamental advances in several areas of mechanics and physics of materials including: the study of friction at the scale of individual asperities and development of predictive friction laws for modeling earthquake dynamics; imaging the formation and understanding the mechanisms of individual “hot-spots” in shock-loaded energetic materials; and understanding the mechanisms of dynamic failure in heterogeneous materials and engineering their microstructures for unprecedented mechanical properties for protection against impact.
Based in Los Angeles, the W. M. Keck Foundation was established in 1954 by the late W. M. Keck, founder of the Superior Oil Company. The Foundation’s grant making is focused primarily on pioneering efforts in the areas of medical research, science and engineering. The Foundation also maintains a Southern California Grant Program that provides support for the Los Angeles community, with a special emphasis on children and youth. For more information, please visit www.wmkeck.org.