  The Infrared Camera (IRC) is one of two focal-plane instruments on the AKARI
satellite. It is designed for wide-field deep imaging and low-resolution
spectroscopy in the near- to mid-infrared (1.8--26.5um) in the pointed
observation mode of AKARI. IRC is also operated in the survey mode to make an
all-sky survey at 9 and 18um. It comprises three channels. The NIR channel
(1.8--5.5um) employs a 512 x 412 InSb array, whereas both the MIR-S
(4.6--13.4um) and MIR-L (12.6--26.5um) channels use 256 x 256 Si:As impurity
band conduction arrays. Each of the three channels has a field-of-view of about
10' x 10' and are operated simultaneously. The NIR and MIR-S share the same
field-of-view by virtue of a beam splitter. The MIR-L observes the sky about
$25' away from the NIR/MIR-S field-of-view. IRC gives us deep insights into the
formation and evolution of galaxies, the evolution of planetary disks, the
process of star-formation, the properties of interstellar matter under various
physical conditions, and the nature and evolution of solar system objects. The
in-flight performance of IRC has been confirmed to be in agreement with the
pre-flight expectation. This paper summarizes the design and the in-flight
operation and imaging performance of IRC.
