[topherhaddad]

I don't have any papers offhand, but the wikipedia page on microbolometers is great. Traditional sensors for thermal imaging are made of materials like InSb and HgCdTe, which require cooling to cryogenic temperatures in order to limit dark noise. These types of sensors are similar to visible sensors where an electron is generated for each incident photon. Microbolometers operate fundamentally differently, where electrical resistance in response to temperature changes. While most space thermal sensors today still use traditional materials, most terrestrial thermal cameras (night-vision, thermal drones) use microbolometers when imaging in LWIR.