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Do you want small pin-points or a larger dot?  IR laser diodes are cheap and could give a finer point and because you would only need the lowest power (fractions of milliwatt?) the heat may be less of an issue.  But either way or whatever you use test it out on the bench with the vinyl to see what happens.   Or maybe a larger IR LED and then use fiber optic strands to feed the individual points.  But I'm not sure how well IR feeds thru those strands...

Erich Rose

Erich Rose Design
807 The Living End
Austin, TX 78746
512-626-9930; [log in to unmask]




On Oct 14, 2010, at 3:35 PM, Sue Ann Heatherly wrote:

> ISEN-ASTC-L is a service of the Association of Science-Technology Centers
> Incorporated, a worldwide network of science museums and related institutions.
> *****************************************************************************
> 
> Hi All,
> 
> 
> I'm working on a low cost "exhibit" (too strong a word) made of vinyl posters that show  images of astronomical objects. I want to hide small point sources of IR behind the posters so that people could detect them with an IR camera. (I work at a radio astronomy observatory -- we're trying to draw some analogies to radio astronomy)
> 
> Have played with christmas lights (painted black), and they work but I'm afraid of the heat. Would they damage the vinyl over an 8 hour day?
> 
> IR LEDs operate at near IR wavelengths and  I doubt they'll show up. These FLIR thermacams work in the mid IR range.
> 
> Any ideas?
> 
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For information about the Association of Science-Technology Centers and the Informal Science Education Network please visit www.astc.org.

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