Mr. John W. Franks Profile

John W. Franks

Global Technical Director at Umicore Coating Services

SPIE Involvement:

Author

Area of Expertise:

Optical Design , Project Management

Websites:

Company Website

Publications (22)

Proceedings Article | 14 June 2023 Presentation + Paper

Lens requirements for sub-10-µm pixel pitch uncooled microbolometers

Raphaël Proux, John Franks

Proceedings Volume 12533, 125330O (2023) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.2665473

KEYWORDS: Modulation transfer functions, Lenses, Microbolometers, Long wavelength infrared, Imaging systems, Solids, Lens design, Industrial applications, Standards development, Spatial frequencies

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Proceedings Article | 12 September 2021 Presentation + Paper

Study of an infrared hybrid chalcogenide silicon lenses compatible with wafer-level manufacturing process for automotive applications

Guillaume Druart, Florence de la Barrière, Jean-Baptiste C. Volatier, Elodie Tartas, Raphaël Proux, John Franks, Susanne Ehret

Proceedings Volume 11871, 118710G (2021) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.2596888

KEYWORDS: Silicon, Lenses, Sensors, Chalcogenides, Modulation transfer functions, Tolerancing, Optics manufacturing, Manufacturing, Thermography, Wafer-level optics

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Proceedings Article | 12 April 2021 Presentation + Paper

Simple optical characterization of new high index chalcogenide glass

Thomas Hingant, Pol Briantais, Raphaël Proux, Mathieu Rozé, Petr Němec, Antoine Bréhaut, Laurent Calvez, Xiang-Hua Zhang, Yann Guimond, John Franks

Proceedings Volume 11737, 1173702 (2021) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.2586076

KEYWORDS: Chalcogenide glass, Refractive index, Optics manufacturing, Optical properties, Lenses, Metrology, Lens manufacturing, Glasses

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Proceedings Article | 21 April 2020 Presentation + Paper

Radial gradient refractive index from crystallized chalcogenide glass for infrared applications

Thomas Hingant, Enora Lavanant, Raphaël Proux, Mathieu Rozé, François Cheviré, Yann Guimond, John Franks, Laurent Calvez, Xiang-Hua Zhang

Proceedings Volume 11403, 114030B (2020) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.2558009

KEYWORDS: Crystals, GRIN lenses, Glasses, Refractive index, Chalcogenide glass, Infrared radiation, Fabrication, Interferometry, Chalcogenides, Annealing

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Proceedings Article | 8 May 2018 Presentation + Paper

The relation between uncooled arrays pixel size and optics in the long-wave infrared

Thomas Hingant, Paul Vervoort, John Franks

Proceedings Volume 10627, 1062704 (2018) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.2303741

KEYWORDS: Lenses, Lens design, Long wavelength infrared, Optics manufacturing, Staring arrays, Image quality, Manufacturing, Image resolution

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Proceedings Article | 11 May 2017 Presentation + Paper

Using material advances in chalcogenide glasses to improve imaging lenses in the 8-14 µm waveband

J. Verplancke, N. Schuster, J. Franks

Proceedings Volume 10181, 101810E (2017) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.2261995

KEYWORDS: Lenses, Germanium, Lens design, Temperature metrology, Chalcogenide glass, Modulation transfer functions, Refractive index, Sensors, Thermography, Infrared radiation

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Proceedings Article | 17 May 2016 Paper

Molded, wafer level optics for long wave infra-red applications

John Franks

Proceedings Volume 9822, 98220B (2016) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.2223872

KEYWORDS: Thermography, Sensors, Semiconducting wafers, Wafer-level optics, Lenses, Manufacturing, Optics manufacturing, Single point diamond turning, Cameras, Modulation transfer functions

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Proceedings Article | 12 May 2015 Paper

Depth of field in modern thermal imaging

Norbert Schuster, John Franks

Proceedings Volume 9452, 94520J (2015) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.2086937

KEYWORDS: Lenses, Modulation transfer functions, Sensors, Cameras, Thermography, Spatial resolution, Staring arrays, Imaging systems, Image quality, Infrared cameras

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Proceedings Article | 29 May 2014 Paper

Methodology for lens transmission measurement in the 8-13 micron waveband: integrating sphere versus camera-based

Norbert Schuster, Jan Verplancke, Bergeron Salethaiyan, John Franks

Proceedings Volume 9071, 90710R (2014) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.2049927

KEYWORDS: Cameras, Coating, Integrating spheres, Germanium, Calibration, Solids, Collimators, Sensors, Infrared cameras, Reflection

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Proceedings Article | 25 October 2013 Paper

Two-lens designs for modern uncooled and cooled IR imaging devices

Norbert Schuster, John Franks

Proceedings Volume 8896, 889604 (2013) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.2028716

KEYWORDS: Sensors, Modulation transfer functions, Staring arrays, Lens design, Distortion, Thermography, Infrared imaging, Infrared sensors, Diffraction, Optical transfer functions

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Proceedings Article | 18 June 2013 Paper

Challenges, constraints and results of lens design in 8-12micron waveband for bolometer-FPAs having a pixel pitch 12micron

Norbert Schuster, John Franks

Proceedings Volume 8704, 870424 (2013) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.2021637

KEYWORDS: Sensors, Lens design, Image resolution, Modulation transfer functions, Diffraction, Chemical elements, Cameras, Optical design, Wavefronts, Staring arrays

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In the 8-12 micron waveband Focal Plane Arrays (FPA) are available with a pixel pitch of 12 microns or less. High resolution FPAs with VGA, XGA and SXGA resolution should become available at a reasonable price. These will require new lens designs to give the required fields of view. The challenge for the Optical Designer is to design lenses when the pixel pitch of the detector is the same as the wavelength of the light imaged. The lens specification will need to give more thought to the resolution required by the system. A smaller pixel pitch detector defines a requirement for a shorter focal length to give the same field of view. This will have a number of effects upon the lens design. Geometrical aberrations decrease proportionally with the focal length. Reverse telephoto layouts will become more common, particularly when the system has a shutter. The increase in pixel count will require wide field of view lenses which present particular challenges. The impact of diffraction effects on the lens design is considerably increased. The fast F-number causes an increase in the diffraction limit of the system, but also increases geometric aberrations by a cube law. Therefore the balance between the diffraction limited and the aberration limited performance becomes more difficult. The first approach of the designer is to re-use proven designs originally intended for use with 17micron detectors. Some of these designs will have adequate performance at the Nyquist limit of the 12 micron detectors. Even smaller detector pitches, such as 10 micron, will demand new approaches to Infra Red lens design. The traditional approach will quickly increase the number of elements to 3 or even more. This could lead to the lenses with medium fields of view driving the system cost. A close cooperation between the camera developer and lens designer will become necessary in order to explore alternate approaches, such as wavefront coding, in order to reach the most cost effective solution.

Proceedings Article | 31 May 2012 Paper

Passive athermalization of two-lens designs in 8-12micron waveband

Norbert Schuster, John Franks

Proceedings Volume 8353, 835325 (2012) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.918112

KEYWORDS: Temperature metrology, Modulation transfer functions, Lenses, Glasses, Germanium, Optical design, Interfaces, Thermography, Aluminum, Aspheric lenses

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Proceedings Article | 21 May 2011 Paper

Challenges, constraints, and results of lens design for 17 micron-bolometer focal plane arrays in 8-12 micron waveband

Norbert Schuster, John Franks

Proceedings Volume 8012, 80122B (2011) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.882510

KEYWORDS: Modulation transfer functions, Sensors, Distortion, Diffraction, Lens design, Staring arrays, Long wavelength infrared, Spatial resolution, Optical design, Imaging systems

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Proceedings Article | 14 May 2010 Paper

Sensor fusion to enable next generation low cost Night Vision systems

R. Schweiger, S. Franz, O. Löhlein, W. Ritter, J.-E. Källhammer, J. Franks, T. Krekels

Proceedings Volume 7726, 772610 (2010) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.855932

KEYWORDS: Sensors, Near infrared, Cameras, Night vision systems, Image sensors, Image resolution, Sensor fusion, Optical resolution, Image analysis, Far infrared

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The next generation of automotive Night Vision Enhancement systems offers automatic pedestrian recognition with a performance beyond current Night Vision systems at a lower cost. This will allow high market penetration, covering the luxury as well as compact car segments. Improved performance can be achieved by fusing a Far Infrared (FIR) sensor with a Near Infrared (NIR) sensor. However, fusing with today's FIR systems will be too costly to get a high market penetration. The main cost drivers of the FIR system are its resolution and its sensitivity. Sensor cost is largely determined by sensor die size. Fewer and smaller pixels will reduce die size but also resolution and sensitivity. Sensitivity limits are mainly determined by inclement weather performance. Sensitivity requirements should be matched to the possibilities of low cost FIR optics, especially implications of molding of highly complex optical surfaces. As a FIR sensor specified for fusion can have lower resolution as well as lower sensitivity, fusing FIR and NIR can solve performance and cost problems. To allow compensation of FIR-sensor degradation on the pedestrian detection capabilities, a fusion approach called MultiSensorBoosting is presented that produces a classifier holding highly discriminative sub-pixel features from both sensors at once. The algorithm is applied on data with different resolution and on data obtained from cameras with varying optics to incorporate various sensor sensitivities. As it is not feasible to record representative data with all different sensor configurations, transformation routines on existing high resolution data recorded with high sensitivity cameras are investigated in order to determine the effects of lower resolution and lower sensitivity to the overall detection performance. This paper also gives an overview of the first results showing that a reduction of FIR sensor resolution can be compensated using fusion techniques and a reduction of sensitivity can be compensated.

Proceedings Article | 7 May 2009 Paper

A multi-spectral optical system (1.55µm and 8 - 12μm) of GASIR ®1 design and coating aspects

Dusan Zadravec, John Franks, Kenneth Rogers, Alec Hendry, Patrick Drach

Proceedings Volume 7298, 72982L (2009) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.828737

KEYWORDS: Coating, Long wavelength infrared, Channel projecting optics, Thermography, Receivers, Beam splitters, Antireflective coatings, Optical design, Semiconductor lasers, Sensors

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Proceedings Article | 16 April 2008 Paper

Optical and thermo-mechanical properties of infrared glasses

J. Franks, K. Rogers, Y. Guimond

Proceedings Volume 6940, 69400P (2008) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.779706

KEYWORDS: Coating, Germanium, Infrared radiation, Refractive index, Modulation transfer functions, Thermography, Optical design, Lens design, Glasses, Manufacturing

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Proceedings Article | 14 May 2007 Paper

Low-cost far infrared bolometer camera for automotive use

Christian Vieider, Stanley Wissmar, Per Ericsson, Urban Halldin, Frank Niklaus, Göran Stemme, Jan-Erik Källhammer, Håkan Pettersson, Dick Eriksson, Henrik Jakobsen, Terje Kvisterøy, John Franks, Jan VanNylen, Hans Vercammen, Annick VanHulsel

Proceedings Volume 6542, 65421L (2007) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.721272

KEYWORDS: Semiconducting wafers, Bolometers, Sensors, Readout integrated circuits, Wafer bonding, Germanium, Cameras, Packaging, Quantum wells, Far infrared

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Proceedings Article | 21 April 2006 Paper

Fulfilling the pedestrian protection directive using a long-wavelength infrared camera designed to meet both performance and cost targets

Jan-Erik Källhammer, Håkan Pettersson, Dick Eriksson, Stéphane Junique, Susan Savage, Christian Vieider, Jan Andersson, John Franks, Jan Van Nylen, Hans Vercammen, Terje Kvisterøy, Frank Niklaus, Göran Stemme

Proceedings Volume 6198, 619809 (2006) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.663152

KEYWORDS: Long wavelength infrared, Sensors, Germanium, Semiconducting wafers, Bolometers, Wafer bonding, Manufacturing, Cameras, Readout integrated circuits, Packaging

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Proceedings Article | 12 October 2005 Paper

Umicore offers new solutions for high volume production of infrared optical system

S. Dervaux, Y. Guimond, J. Franks, Y. Bellec, A. Bourget

Proceedings Volume 5987, 59870G (2005) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.629886

KEYWORDS: Infrared radiation, Glasses, Lenses, Optics manufacturing, Coating, Infrared imaging, Driver's vision enhancers, Manufacturing, Chalcogenide glass, Far infrared

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Proceedings Article | 31 May 2005 Paper

Umicore opens new era in IR moulded optics by opening the first high volume facility

Y. Guimond, J. Franks, Y. Bellec, A. Bourget

Proceedings Volume 5783, (2005) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.603756

KEYWORDS: Lenses, Thermography, Optics manufacturing, Modulation transfer functions, Germanium, Glasses, Infrared radiation, Infrared imaging, Driver's vision enhancers, Chalcogenide glass

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Proceedings Article | 16 February 2005 Paper

Moulded infrared optics making night vision for cars within reach

Antoine Bourget, Yann Guimond, John Franks, Marleen Van Den Bergh

Proceedings Volume 5663, (2005) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.601470

KEYWORDS: Lenses, Germanium, Thermography, Coating, Infrared radiation, Optics manufacturing, Glasses, Modulation transfer functions, Night vision, Single point diamond turning

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Proceedings Article | 30 August 2004 Paper

Comparison of performances between GASIR molded optics and existing IR optics

Yann Guimond, John Franks, Yann Bellec

Proceedings Volume 5406, (2004) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.543052

KEYWORDS: Optics manufacturing, Lenses, Germanium, Modulation transfer functions, Thermography, Glasses, Infrared imaging, Infrared radiation, Coating, Single point diamond turning

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Showing 5 of 22 publications

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