Proposed IRST designs for the Convair F-102

[overscan (PaulMM)]

F-102A IRST Proposal ZP-8-048

SDASM Collection

 

[overscan (PaulMM)]

Infrared Systems for the F-102A (ZP-8-53)

3 different systems were under consideration from Avion, Aerojet and Hughes.

SDASM Archive.

 

[overscan (PaulMM)]

Part 2

 

[overscan (PaulMM)]

Last part. Sadly the installation drawings are hard to make out.

 

[overscan (PaulMM)]

It's an interesting insight into 1950s IR technology. All three proposals used Lead Sulphide (PbS) detectors, even the more sophisticated Hughes proposal.

 

[Maro.Kyo]

Quite interesting that they would make a system retractable to prevent EMI

 

[Scott Kenny]

It's an interesting insight into 1950s IR technology. All three proposals used Lead Sulphide (PbS) detectors, even the more sophisticated Hughes proposal.

What else was available in the 1950s and 60s?

*wikidive*

Let's see here...

• Mercury Cadmium Telluride was first discovered in 1959, but would have required liquid nitrogen cooling.
• Indium Antimonide was discovered in 1951, but per wiki would have required 1) liquid nitrogen cooling, 2) frequent recalibration, and 3) a bulkier and more complex IRST unit.
• Indium-Gallium Arsenide wasn't discovered until 1977...
• Indium Arsenide must have been discovered before 1977, but damn the lack of consistent formatting and sourcing on wiki!
• Ah, maybe Lead Selenide? that wouldn't have needed cooling, at least, and was known since the 1930s. Why didn't they use lead selenide? poor quality of what was available then?
• Lithium tantalate wasn't discovered until 1968...
• Triglycine Sulfate wasn't discovered until 1980...

 

[overscan (PaulMM)]

Lead Selenide, Lead Telluride and Indium Antimonide were all used in Britain in missile seekers in the mid-late 1950s to at least trials, and I believe both Lead Selenide and Lead Telluride were tested by the Germans in WW2. Red Top deployed with an Indium Antimonide seeker from 1964.

 

[overscan (PaulMM)]

Recent Developments in the Detection and Measurement of Infrared Radiation on JSTOR

R. A. Smith, Recent Developments in the Detection and Measurement of Infrared Radiation, The Scientific Monthly, Vol. 82, No. 1 (Jan., 1956), pp. 3-19

www.jstor.org

According to this 1956 article, Lead Sulphide detectors were commercially available in the US and UK at that time, Lead Telluride detectors were made in experimental quantities (about 100 in the UK at this time) and Lead Selenide detectors only in very small numbers and in the UK only (to the author's knowledge). Lead Selenide was initially ignored as was expected it would be intermediate between Lead Sulphide and Lead Telluride in wavelength sensitivity as you might expect from periodic table placement but in fact it is sensitive to 8 microns, significantly higher than Lead Telluride.

It says both PbSe and PbTe require cooling to be even moderately useful.