Jim Cast
Headquarters, Washington, DC           February 13, 1996
(Phone:  202/358-1779)

Jim Doyle
Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, CA
(Phone:  818/354-5011)


RELEASE:  96-29

INFRARED CAMERA HAS VARIETY OF USES

     A revolutionary new infrared camera developed by NASA may 
present new possibilities for doctors, pilots and 
environmental scientists, as well as enable defense forces to 
identify various types of rockets by their plumes.

     The camera, developed at the Center for Space 
Microelectronics Technology at NASA's Jet Propulsion 
Laboratory (JPL), Pasadena, CA, in partnership with Amber, a 
Raytheon company, uses highly sensitive quantum-well infrared 
photodetectors, or QWIPS.

     The camera is the only one of its kind at present, 
according to the development team leader, Dr. Sarath Gunapala 
of JPL.

     The higher sensitivity of  long-wavelength QWIPs could 
allow doctors to detect tumors using thermographic, or heat 
analysis, allow pilots to make better landings with improved 
night vision, and enable environmental scientists to monitor 
pollution and weather patterns.  Other possible uses include 
law enforcement, search and rescue and industrial process 
control, Gunapala said.

     In order for infrared light detectors to work, they must 
be very cold.  The new camera, which weighs less than 10 
pounds, contains a Stirling cooler, a closed-cycle 
refrigerator about the size of a fist.  The small motor cycles 
cooling gas millions of times and cools the camera from room 
temperature to very low temperatures, about -343 degrees 
Fahrenheit (-208 Celsius), in about ten minutes.

     The camera can be hooked to batteries to make it more 
portable, but the current prototype plugs into a 110-volt wall 
socket for power.  It is 4.4 inches wide, 10.3 inches deep and 
7.2 inches high and weighs 9.9 pounds.


     This quantum well infrared photodetector technology has 
been developed over the past half decade under contract to 
NASA's Office of Space Access and Technology.

                           -end-

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