Sandia National Labs Academic Alliance Collaboration Report 2020-2021

BUILDING THE WORLD’S FIRST LASER REFRIGERATED SENSOR

Remote sensing allows the physical characteristics of an area to be imaged and monitored by measuring its reflected and emitted radiation at a distance. Remote sensing instruments on research aircraft or satellites provide global measurements of data for civil, research and military purposes such as taking pictures of temperature changes in the ocean or monitoring oil spills. To operate with low noise (reduce dark current), the detectors must be cooled to a very low cryogenic temperature (~150 K – 77 K). Currently, optical refrigeration is the only cryogenic solid-state refrigeration process in the world.

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Sandia Academic Alliance Program

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