一、前言四十年来,造价低、应用广泛的硫化铅(PbS)和硒化铅(PbSe)探测器在1～3μm和3～5μm光谱范围的许多应用中,仍占优先地位。在二次世界大战期间,铅盐光导探测器被广泛地应用于各种红外装置。大战一结束,美国政府立即在通讯、火控和搜索系统的红外应用方面开始了强有力的发展,直延续至今。五十年代末,热寻的红外制导导弹“响尾蛇”引起了人们的极大关注。后来这一技术在行星温度测量、无损检测和早期癌症检查方面得到广泛的应用。就在这些年里,许多红外科学家预言,铅盐探测器不久将被新的传感器材料所代替。二十五年后,多数军用系统以及工业、商业和医疗应用上对铅盐探测器的需求量仍 I. INTRODUCTION In the past 40 years, lead sulfide (PbS) and lead selenide (PbSe) detectors, which have low cost and are widely used, still take precedence in many applications in the spectral range of 1 ~ 3μm and 3 ~ 5μm. Lead salt photoconductive detectors were widely used in various infrared devices during the Second World War. As soon as the war ended, the U.S. government started a vigorous development in the infrared applications of communications, fire control and search systems and has continued to this day. In the late fifties, heat-seeking infrared guided missile “rattlesnake” aroused great concern. Later, this technique was widely used in planetary temperature measurement, nondestructive testing and early cancer screening. Just a few years ago, many IR scientists predicted that lead salt detectors will soon be replaced with new sensor materials. Twenty-five years later, the demand for lead salt detectors in most military systems and in industrial, commercial and medical applications