Infrared Radiation Imaging

Infrared Radiation is made up of particular wavelength just beyond what we can see on the red side of the spectrum and this falls in the range of the (EM) spectrum between microwaves and visible light. It has frequencies from about 3 GHz up to about 400 THz and wavelengths of about 30 centimeters (12 inches) to 740 nanometers (0.00003 inches), although these values are not definitive.

Infrared imaging is a type of imaging that utilizes light above the wavelength of the visual spectrum. Active infrared sends out a beam of infrared light and gathers the reflected waves to form a picture on a screen or pair of glasses. 

figure 1: Characteristics of Infrared

Domains which are used Infrared radiation imaging

Medical Stream

1. Thermal Cameras

One of the most common uses of infrared radiation is in heat-sensitive thermal imaging cameras. These can be used to study human and animal body heat patterns, but more often, they are used as night-vision cameras. These have uses in warfare, as security cameras and in nocturnal animal research.

2. Infrared Light Therapy

Light therapy or phototherapy (classically referred to as heliotherapy) consists of exposure to daylight or to specific wavelengths of light using lasers, light-emitting diodes, fluorescent lamps, dichroic lamps or very bright, full-spectrum light, usually controlled with various devices. Light therapy has found many uses in different areas. For example, it is used to treat a variety of skin diseases and it is used to treat mood and sleep related disorders as well.

Satellite Pictures

Most IR observations are conducted by satellites to avoid atmospheric interference. One of the more prominent of these satellites was the Infrared Astronomical Satellite “IRAS”, which produced images of the sky at wavelengths of 12, 25, 60 and 100 micrometers (µm).However, there was not another complete sky survey conducted until 2006 when the Japanese space agency JAXA launched the satellite “AKIRI”.

Astronomy

Astronomers can look at an area of the sky that appears empty and dark in the visual part of the electromagnetic spectrum and find the area full of activity in the infrared. Since most objects that are at all hot produce infrared radiation, whereas plenty of objects do not produce visible light, it is a vital tool in observational astronomy.

• Infrared telescope -An infrared telescope is a telescope that uses infrared light to detect celestial bodies.  All celestial objects with a temperature above absolute zero emit some form of electromagnetic spectrum. In order to study the universe, scientists use several different types of telescopes to detect these different types of emitted radiation in the electromagnetic spectrum. 

figure 2: SOFIA-IR telescope in aircraft

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Team Elite

M.P.C Sadaru

A.G.N.K Aluthgama

A.M.A.P Abeysingha

Infras
T Pirashanth
S.M Shamik
K.N.F Shakira