A University of Central Florida researcher is leading a new, $1.5 million Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency project to develop a highly sensitive infrared imaging system designed to enable improved night vision, space exploration and healthcare diagnostics.

The project will use a new infrared detection concept based on graphene 麻豆精品 S a material that is composed of one atom thick regular honeycomb arrangement of carbon atoms.

麻豆精品 S淲e could pattern graphene with engineered nano-scale features that works as nano-antennas to collect light 麻豆精品 S攅nhancing infrared light absorption by over 30 times compared to the bare graphene sheet, 麻豆精品 S says Debashis Chanda, the project 麻豆精品 S檚 leader and a professor in UCF 麻豆精品 S檚 . 麻豆精品 S淭his enables this 麻豆精品 S榚ngineered 麻豆精品 S graphene to be used as a light detection material. 麻豆精品 S

The new imaging system will be more sensitive than current infrared imaging systems and will cost significantly less as it will not require expensive and cumbersome cryogenic cooling.

麻豆精品 S淎 highly sensitive, room temperature infrared imaging system will facilitate many practical applications to emerge, 麻豆精品 S Chanda says. 麻豆精品 S淭he next challenge is to add required electronics to convert this new one-atom thick material to a functional camera. 麻豆精品 S

The funding for the three-year, DARPA Direct Phase-II project will be split between UCF and E-Skin Displays Inc., which is a California startup focused on commercializing technologies developed in Chanda 麻豆精品 S檚 lab. The main goal of the new grant is to take this new concept to the commercialization domain by transforming it to a functional infrared camera.

This direct Phase II award continues the research and development effort from the previously completed DARPA-funded work.

麻豆精品 S淩eceiving a DARPA Direct Phase-II award is very rare, so I 麻豆精品 S檓 feeling quite happy that a challenging agency like DARPA considers my team capable and has confidence in me, 麻豆精品 S Chanda says.

Chanda has joint appointments in UCF 麻豆精品 S檚 Department of NanoScience Technology Center, the聽聽and the . He received his doctorate in photonics from the University of Toronto and worked as a postdoctoral fellow at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign before joining UCF in Fall 2012.