Portable bioluminescent platform for in vivo monitoring of biological processes in non-transgenic animals.

Bioluminescent imaging (BLI) is one of the most powerful and widely used preclinical imaging modalities. However, the current technology relies on the use of transgenic luciferase-expressing cells and animals and therefore can only be applied to a limited number of existing animal models of human disease. Here, we report the development of a "portable bioluminescent" (PBL) technology that overcomes most of the major limitations of traditional BLI.

Improvements in the design of thermal-infrared radiation thermometers and sensors.

A new design for thermal-infrared radiation thermometer and sensors is described. Critical optical elements, such as the field stop, Lyot stop, collimating lens, and detector, are placed inside a thermally stabilized assembly that is controlled using thermo-electric coolers and thermistors. The assembled radiation thermometer is calibrated using both variable-temperature fluid-bath and heat-pipe blackbodies from -45 °C to 75 °C and the use of a modified-Planck function and these blackbodies.

Calibration of night vision goggles: an SI-units-based gain measurement technique.

A gain measurement technique for the calibration of night vision goggles (NVG) is proposed and evaluated. This technique is based on the radiance measurements at the input and output of the NVG. In contrast to the old definition, which uses a non-International System of Units (SI) traceable luminance, the "equivalent luminance unit," the suggested technique utilizes the radiance quantities that are traceable to the SI units through National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) standards.

Towards high-accuracy primary spectral radiometry from 400 K to 1300 K.

We describe the design, construction, calibration and use of a near-infrared thermodynamic radiation thermometer to measure blackbodies from 400 K to 1300 K. The motivation for this work is the pending redefinition of the kelvin and the need for direct, thermodynamic temperature measurements of the fixed-point blackbodies presently used in the realization of the temperature scale. The challenges of accurately measuring Planck radiances which vary greatly in radiance level and spectral shape are discussed.

Broadband Radiometric LED Measurements.

At present, broadband radiometric measurements of LEDs with uniform and low-uncertainty results are not available. Currently, either complicated and expensive spectral radiometric measurements or broadband photometric LED measurements are used. The broadband photometric measurements are based on the CIE standardized V(λ) function, which cannot be used in the UV range and leads to large errors when blue or red LEDs are measured in its wings, where the realization is always poor.