Cryogenic Cooling of Sensing Devices, a conference sponsored by SPIE, the international professional society for optics and photonics technology, will be held April 14-18, 2019, at the Baltimore Convention Center, Maryland.

Conference chairs are Tonny Benschop, Thales Cryogenics B.V. (Netherlands); Sergey V. Riabzev, RICOR Cryogenic & Vacuum Systems (Israel); and Carl S. Kirkconnell, West Coast Solutions (USA).

Conference co-chairs are Richard I. Epstein, The University of New Mexico (USA), ThermoDynamic Films, LLC (USA);and Ingo N. Rühlich, AIM INFRAROT-MODULE GmbH (Germany).

Program committee: Bjørn F. Andresen, Consultant, Infrared Technologies & Applications (Israel); Markus P. Hehlen, Los Alamos National Lab. (USA); Joseph P. Heremans, The Ohio State University (USA); Mansoor Sheik-Bahae, The University of New Mexico (USA); Alexander Veprik, Gevasol (Israel); Yinong Wu, Shanghai Institute of Technical Physics (China)

This conference will be the opportunity to present and discuss progress in the areas of research, development, and the integration of cryogenic coolers with sensing devices for sensor manufacturers, system integrators and final customers.

The conference section will be open to presentations of the various cooling technologies available to achieve the required low temperatures – focusing on temperatures below
180 K – required for optimal detector or system operation. New cooling technologies which could lead to new applications are of particular interest to this conference. Customers who are willing to share their specific needs for the cooling of their device to cryogenic temperatures are encouraged to present their specific requirements and challenges during this session as well.

Although the considered sensing devices are first and foremost those related to military and para-military sensor system technologies (like infrared detectors, optics, etc. for surveillance and targeting), the conference also welcomse contributions to cover civilian commercial sensing applications, i.e. gamma-ray spectrometers, low-noise amplifiers required for signal treatment and sensing devices requiring cooled sensors for pollution and process monitoring, etc.

Critical cooler parameters will vary with the type of device, its application and with the ingenuity of the developers. Among these parameters are size, weight, power consumption, vibration export, robustness and cost. The purpose of the conference is to help developers of sensing systems understand the pros and cons of the different refrigeration technologies. This understanding will enable them to select the one technology that best answers the system performance requirements, and its technical and commercial limitations.

Beyond the different cooling technologies (i.e., mechanical coolers, optical refrigeration, thermo-electric refrigeration, etc.), we would like to encourage presentations addressing cryocooler requirements, system definition and integration challenges, not only at the cooler level, but also at the detector and system levels.