Comparing Thermal Imagers with Image Intensifiers

2 Comparing Thermal Imagers with Image Intensifiers 

An image intensifier is a device with an electronic tube equipped with a light-sensitive electron emitter at one end and a phosphor screen at the other. This device is used in astronomy and in military and nonmilitary surveillance systems to provide night vision. An image intensifier amplifies available visible andNIR (0.3-0.9 pm) light reflected off the target surface and therefore cannot operate in total darkness. 

An IR thermal imager is a device that senses self-emitted IR radiation, proportional to temperature, from the surface of a target and converts it to an image, where the brightness (or color hue) is proportional to the intensity of energy emitted from the surface. The presence or absence of visible light has little or no effect on a thermal imager. It is used in both military and nonmilitary applications. 

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