New SWIR imager from FLIR

[Ben321]

FLIR now has the Boson SWIR core. It doesn't have a TEC (thermoelectric cooler), unlike most SWIR imagers that exist today. I know that their previous SWIR core was the Tau SWIR and it has a TEC, and it costs about $15000. I think Bosons have been cheaper cores than most other cores FLIR has made (except for their cheapest, the Lepton), so I hope their Boson SWIR is also cheaper than the Tau SWIR. And theoretically it could be a lot cheaper, without having the TEC in it, as a TEC is yet one more component that ads cost to a device. Here's the official webpage for this product https://www.flir.com/products/boson-swir/

[frogg]

Out of curiosity, why the big interest in SWIR? SWIR imaging seems to be rather specialized - as opposed to LWIR, and the applications seem non-obvious to me.

What's your typical application?

[Mechatrommer]

Out of curiosity, why the big interest in SWIR? SWIR imaging seems to be rather specialized - as opposed to LWIR, and the applications seem non-obvious to me.

its the next thing to xray, without the bulkiness and hazard of xray machine...

https://www.vision-systems.com/articles/print/volume-23/issue-1/departments/technology-trends/electronics-inspection-infrared-imaging-microscopes-aid-in-detecting-integrated-circuit-defects.html
https://www.princetonirtech.com/applications
https://www.edmundoptics.com/resources/application-notes/imaging/what-is-swir/

but 5 figures price? we'll wait for 2nd hand market...

[Fraser]

Frogg,

I own SWIR cameras and will likely be rehousing one of them as they are specialist in their applications. I have found that I have little use for what SWIR offers in terms of imaging. Common uses for SWIR are silicon wafer and solar cell inspection, art forensics, food inspection on production lines and SWIR laser beam shape analysis beyond 1.1um. The SWIR camera can image through glass and other materials that offer transmission in the band. Common plate Glass offers decent transmission up to around 2um. This is why standard optical glass lenses do work on SWIR cameras but the glass does limit performance above 2um. There are SWIR rated lenses that offer the full band coverage but they cost a lot more than common optical glass lenses. I have no need of any of these applications.

MWIR and LWIR cameras are far more useful over a wide range of applications. SWIR cameras are intended for more exotic applications so tend to be produced in smaller numbers and so retail at higher prices.

My FLIR SC4000 cooled InSb Science Camera is capable of imaging in both the SWIR and MWIR bands and was specifically selected for a specialist application prior to my ownership. It imaged bare helical nichrome or tungsten heating elements that were located behind 6mm thick high temperature glass and ceramic plates. It identified any areas of the bare heating element that was suffering overheating due to the physical design of its ceramic holder. The SWIR and MWIR capabilities of the cooled InSb wideband camera were essential for this R&D task. A very specialist application however ! Having that specialist imaging capability cost the company over $100K   

As previously stated, when looking to buy a SWIR camera, the cost of a suitable lens needs to also be considered as generic unfiltered optical glass lenses are only useful over part of the SWIR band. Many modern optical glass lenses also have built in filtration that can reduce performance in the SWIR band. Old CCTV lenses are often the preferred option if operating on a tight budget. The Lens also needs to be specified for full illumination of the sensor array. A SWIR band C mount lens is not a cheap item to purchase new and rare on the used market. Many used SWIR cameras come with either no lens fitted or a conventional optical glass CCTV lens as they were often used below 2.0um.

Fraser

[Hyper_Spectral]

For whatever reason, FLIR pulled that product page.

It's still cached, however. https://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:_TM9pwQOo6kJ:https://www.flir.com/support/products/boson-swir+&cd=2&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=us

[Ben321]

For whatever reason, FLIR pulled that product page.

It's still cached, however. https://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:_TM9pwQOo6kJ:https://www.flir.com/support/products/boson-swir+&cd=2&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=us

Possibly discontinued item? They realized they didn't need it, because it wasn't worth the money to continue to develop.

[Ben321]

Out of curiosity, why the big interest in SWIR? SWIR imaging seems to be rather specialized - as opposed to LWIR, and the applications seem non-obvious to me.

That's exactly why I want it. Weird stuff happens in the SWIR range. At room temperature, in SWIR most things behave in a reflective manner not an emissive manner, just like with visible light. But heat something up to several hundred degrees (not hot enough to emit visible light, or even NIR light) and it will start to be emissive in the SWIR range. A soldering iron would glow, and be bright enough even to see with the rest of the room in ambient light (no need to turn off the room lights). Also there's an airglow (aka skyglow) effect that happens in the SWIR wavelength range. In the daytime, the upper atmosphere absorbs UV light from the sun, and at night loses this energy by emitting light. This is mostly in the SWIR band. So you need an SWIR camera to see it. I bet there's also a lot of other phenomenon (both natural and artificial) that can only be seen in SWIR wavelengths. LWIR doesn't allow for seeing such exotic phenomenon. The largest source of LWIR radiation is thermal emission. So LWIR is mostly only good for thermal imaging.

What's your typical application?

Nothing in particular. As a hobbyist I just like experimenting with stuff. I don't work in any industry/profession that would use such IR cameras.