How the fill factor of a photodetector array affects the quality of a thermal image

This paper discusses how the fill factor of a photodetector array affects t he structure of a thermal image. Thermal viewers with full-size arrays poss ess specific forms of distortions associated with two-dimensional image dis cretization and with the fact that the area of the photodetector is not com pletely filled with the sensitive layer. This article presents the results of studies of the degree of distortion of test images and an estimate of th e loss of information concerning the high-Frequency components of the spati al spectrum of an optical image as a function of the fill factor. (C) 2001 The Optical Society of America.