SURFACE ACOUSTIC WAVE INFRARED LINE IMAGING ARRAY

A surface acoustic wave infrared line imaging array having a first interdigital transducer generating a first surface acoustic wave train amplitude modulated by the temperature profile of the substrate in response to a line segment of a received infrared image, a second interdigital transducer generating a parallel reference surface acoustic wave train, equal in amplitude but 180.degree. out of phase with said first surface acoustic wave train, and a third interdigital transducer for summing the amplitudes of said first and reference surface acoustic wave trains to generate a wave train signal in which the individual waves are amplitude modulated in accordance with the intensity profile of the line segment of the infrared image received by the substrate underlying the first interdigital transducer.