Infrared Detectors and Systems offers a deep and detailed examination of the optical detection process and the electronics of mimicking the eye. It further explores recent research in new detector materials and the latest advances in optical detectors. This text covers the range of subjects necessary for the understanding of modern infrared-imaging systems at a level appropriate for seniors or first-year graduate students in physics or electrical engineering. The first six chapters focus on fundamental background issues of radiation detection, beginning with the basics of geometrical optics and finishing with a discussion of the figures of merit used for describing the signal-to-noise performance of a detector system. Other topics include radiometry and flux-transfer issues, basic radiation-detector mechanisms, and random-process mathematics. The book concludes with a close look at infrared detection systems and related issues. In the discussion of infrared search systems, the range equation is developed in terms of the optical and detector parameters of the system. A separate chapter is devoted to modulation transfer function, a spatial-frequency-domain description of image quality. The final chapter describes the design equations for thermal-imager systems in terms of noise-equivalent temperature difference and minimum resolvable temperature. Supported and clarified by 470 illustrations and accompanied by an extensive glossary of the nomenclature, this is an excellent text for graduate and senior level courses in radiometry and infrared detectors. It is also a valuable reference for practicing engineers involved in the use, design, analysis, and testing of infrared detector-based systems.