High resolution thermo-electric nanowire and graphene coupled detector system

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9945719-B2
Application number	US-201414570624-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Dec 15, 2014
Priority date	Dec 15, 2014
Publication date	Apr 17, 2018
Grant date	Apr 17, 2018

Abstract

A frequency selective electromagnetic apparatus is provided. The apparatus may include at least one nanowire comprising a first end and a second end opposite the first end, at least one 2-dimensional contact disposed adjacent to the first end or the second end and in thermal communication, electrical communication, or both thermal and electrical communication with the at least one nanowire, and at least one nanoscale-sized-diameter thermoelectric junction disposed between the at least one 2-dimensional contact and the at least one nanowire.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A frequency selective electromagnetic apparatus, comprising:
at least one nanowire comprising a first end and a second end, the second end opposite the first end;
at least one 2-dimensional contact disposed on the first end and in thermal communication, electrical communication, or both thermal and electrical communication with the at least one nanowire, wherein the at least one 2-dimensional contact comprises graphene, and wherein electrical properties of the electrical communication and thermal properties of the thermal communication are decoupled from each other; and
at least one nanoscale-sized-diameter thermoelectric junction disposed between the at least one 2-dimensional contact and the first end of the at least one nanowire,
wherein the at least one nanoscale-sized-diameter thermoelectric junction comprises an interface between the at least one 2-dimensional contact and the first end of the at least one nanowire.

2. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the at least one 2-dimensional contact comprises a single molecule.

3. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the at least one 2-dimensional contact comprises a thickness of a single molecule.

4. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the at least one 2-dimensional contact comprises a single layer that comprises a thickness of a single molecule.

5. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the at least one 2-dimensional contact comprises more than one layer, and at least one of the more than one layer comprises a thickness of a single molecule.

6. The apparatus of claim 5 , wherein each of the more than one layer comprise a thickness of a single molecule.

7. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the graphene is selected from the group consisting of monolayer graphene, bi-layer graphene, few-layer graphene, bromine-intercalated graphene, and mixtures thereof.

8. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the at least one 2-dimensional contact comprises a first 2-dimensional contact disposed on the first end of the at least one nanowire, and a second 2-dimensional contact disposed on the second end of the at least one nanowire, and
wherein the first 2-dimensional contact and the second 2-dimensional contact each comprise graphene selected from the group consisting of monolayer graphene, bi-layer graphene, few-layer graphene, bromine-intercalated graphene, and mixtures thereof.

9. The apparatus of claim 8 , wherein the graphene of the first 2-dimensional contact is different than the graphene of the second 2-dimensional contact.

10. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the at least one nanowire comprises a composite nanowire.

11. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the at least one nanowire comprises a 2-dimensional array of nanowires.

12. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the at least one nanowire generates a signal in response to receiving a photon.

13. The apparatus of claim 12 , further comprising an amplifier that receives the signal generated by the at least one nanowire.

14. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the at least one nanowire comprises a thermoelectric nanowire.

15. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the at least one nanowire comprises a material having a thermoelectric response.

16. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the at least one nanowire comprises beryllium (Be), bismuth (Bi), tellurium (Te), antimony (Sb), tin (Sn), lead (Pb), selenium (Se), nickel (Ni), cobalt (Co), or combinations thereof.

17. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the thermal communication comprises a change in temperature generated by transport of phonons excited upon the at least one nanowire accepting a photon.

18. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the electrical communication comprises a change in voltage generated by transport of electrons, holes or both electrons and holes generated upon the at least one nanowire accepting a photon.

19. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the at least one nanowire comprises a first nanowire and a second nanowire, wherein the second nanowire is disposed adjacent to, but does not physically contact the first nanowire, and wherein the at least one 2-dimensional contact is disposed between the first and the second nanowires.

20. The apparatus of claim 1 , further comprising a substrate for accepting heat generated at the at least one nanowire upon the at least one nanowire accepting a photon that generates a charger carrier, and the charge carrier is communicated away from the at least one nanowires.

21. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the at least one nanowire comprises an array of nanowires, and wherein nanowires of the array of nanowires are formed lithographically, epitaxially, by guided self-assembly, by extrusion, or combinations thereof.

22. The apparatus of claim 1 , further comprising at least one optical element that is configured for manipulating electromagnetic energy arriving at the at least one nanowires, the manipulating comprising one or more of filtering, focusing, gathering and collimating the electromagnetic energy.

23. An imaging system, comprising
at least one intensity control device that selects a range of a rate of arrival of photons;
at least one focusing element for focusing the photons;
at least one frequency selective imager that detects the photons that are focused from the at least one focusing element, wherein the at least one frequency selective imager comprises:
an array of nanowires, wherein each of the nanowires comprises a first end and a second end, the second end opposite the first end,
at least one 2-dimensional contact disposed between a first one and second one of the nanowires, wherein the at least one 2-dimensional contact is disposed on the first end of the first one or the second one of the nanowires and is in thermal communication, electrical communication, or both thermal and electrical communication with the first one and second one of the nanowires, wherein the at least one 2-dimensional contact comprises graphene and wherein electrical properties of the electrical communication and thermal properties of the thermal communication are decoupled from each other, and
at least one nanoscale-sized-diameter thermoelectric junction disposed between the at least one 2-dimensional contact and the first end of the first one or the second one of the nanowires, wherein the at least one nanoscale-sized-diameter thermoelectric junction comprises an interface between the at least one 2-dimensional contact and the first end of the at least one nanowire,
wherein the frequency selective imager senses at least one photon and emits at least one electrical pulse having a voltage that is proportional to an energy level of the at least one photon;

at least one processor for processing the at least one electrical pulse and for generating a multi-spectral image from information from the at least one electrical pulse; and
a display for displaying the multi-spectral image.

24. The imaging system of claim 23 , wherein the array comprises a 2-dimensional array of nanowires.

25. The imaging system of claim 23 , wherein the graphene is selected from the group consisting of monolayer graphene, bi-layer graphene, few-layer graphene, bromine-intercalated graphene, and mixtures thereof.

26. The imaging system of claim 23 , wherein the nanowires comprise a material having a thermoelectric response.

27. The imaging system of claim 23 , further comprising at least one polarization cont

Assignees

• Boeing Co

Inventors

• Belk John H
• Hunt Jeffrey H

Classifications

• G01J2005/0077

  Imaging · CPC title

• G01J5/20

  using resistors, thermistors or semiconductors sensitive to radiation, e.g. photoconductive devices · CPC title

• G01J2005/202

  Arrays · CPC title

• G01J1/42 Primary

  using electric radiation detectors (optical or mechanical part G01J1/04; by comparison with a reference light or electric value G01J1/10) · CPC title

• G01J5/046

  Materials; Selection of thermal materials · CPC title