Fiber faceplate modulation readout in Bi-material micro-cantilever mirror array imaging system

Fiber faceplate modulation was applied to read out the precise actuation of silicon-based, surface micro-fabricated cantilever mirrors array in optical imaging system. The faceplate was made by ordered bundles consisting of as many as ten thousands fibers. The transmission loss of an individual fiber in the bundles was 0.35dB/cm and the cross talk between neighboring fibers in the faceplate was about 15%. Micro-cantilever mirrors array (Focal-Plane Array (FPA)) which composed of two-level bi-material pixels, absorb incident infrared flux and result in a temperature increase. The temperature distribution of incident flux transformed to the deformation distribution in FPA which has a very big difference in coefficients of thermal expansion. FPA plays the roles of target sensing and has the characteristics of high detection sensitivity. Instead of general filter such as knife edge or pinhole, fiber faceplate modulate the beam reflected by the units of FPA. An optical readout signal brings a visible spectrum into pattern recognition system, yielding a visible image on monitor. Thermal images at room temperature have been obtained. The proposed method permits optical axis compact and image noise suppression.