Focal plane sensors

Abstract

Vision ranks highest in hierarchy of human senses. Our perception of the world and things around us are perceived through our eye-sight with limitations such as resolution, speed, wave-length, etc. Sensors are devices used to sense signals of various forms of energy such as electro-magnetic (em) radiation, chemical, thermal, mechanical and magnetic in nature. Sensors used for detection of em radiation are generally termed as ‘detectors’. Detectors used to obtain images with imaging systems (viz., cameras, camcorders, etc) by placing them at their focal planes are termed as ‘Focal Plane Detectors or Focal Plane Sensors’. Any one type of focal plane sensor cannot be made to satisfy all the user needs because of varying requirements for their intended applications and thus often require custom design.