Infrared Characteristics of Some Flash Light Sources

To effectively utilize a flash and predict its effects on an infrared device, it is essential to know the infrared characteristics of the flash source. In this paper, a study of the IR characteristics of flash light sources is carried out. The IR characteristics of three flash sources, of which two are combustive and the other is explosive, are measured with an IR characteristic measurement system over the middle- and long-wavelength infrared ranges. From the measurements, the radiances over the two IR ranges and the radiative temperatures of the flashes are extracted. The IR radiance of flash A is found to be the strongest among the three, followed by those of sources C and B. It is also shown that the IR radiance of flash A is about 10 times stronger than that of flash B, even though these two sources are the same type of flash with the same powder. This means that the IR radiance intensity of a combustive flash source depends only on the amount of powder, not on the characteristics of the powder. From the measured radiance over MWIR and LWIR ranges for each flashes, the radiative temperatures of the flashes are extracted by fitting the measured data to blackbody radiance. The best-fit radiative temperatures (equivalent to black-body temperatures) of the three flash sources A, B, and C are 3300, 1120, and 1640 K respectively. From the radiance measurements and radiative temperatures of the three flash sources, it is shown that a combustive source radiates more IR energy than an explosive one; this mean, in turn, that the effects of a combustive flash on an IR device are more profound than those of an explosive flash source. The measured IR radiances and radiative temperatures of the flash sources in this study can be used to estimate the effects of flashes on various IR devices, and play a critical role for the modeling and simulation of the effects of a flash source on various IR devices.Keywords: Flash lights, Spectral radiance, Radiative temperature, Pyroelectric IR detectorOCIS codes: (040.3060) Infrared; (200.4560) Optical data processing, (350.5610) Radiation, (040.6808) Thermal (uncooled) IR detectors, arrays and imaging