Infrared systems are a primary subject in Optical Engineering and an important technical community within SPIE. Applications range from monitoring and controlling manufacturing processes, to allowing firefighters to see through smoke, to monitoring building heat loss, to military nighttime operations. The two primary bands in infrared systems are the midwave band (MWIR: 3 to 5 μm) and the long-wave band (LWIR: 8 to 12 μm). Near infrared (NIR:0.7 to 1.1 μm) and short-wave infrared (SWIR: 1.1 to 3.0 μm) are actually considered electro-optical systems, since the majority of light received by these systems from an object is reflected and not emitted. Infrared systems are comprised of many parts or components. To me, the heart of an infrared system is the infrared focal plane (the detector array), where the optics might be the lungs and the electronics might be the brains.
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