Towards dualband megapixel QWIP focal plane arrays

Abstract

Mid-wavelength infrared (MWIR) and long-wavelength infrared (LWIR) 1024×1024 pixel quantum well infrared photodetector (QWIP) focal planes have been demonstrated with excellent imaging performance. The MWIR QWIP detector array has demonstrated a noise equivalent differential temperature (NEΔT) of 17mK at a 95K operating temperature with f/2.5 optics at 300K background and the LWIR detector array has demonstrated a NEΔT of 13mK at a 70K operating temperature with the same optical and background conditions as the MWIR detector array after the subtraction of system noise. Both MWIR and LWIR focal planes have shown background limited performance (BLIP) at 90K and 70K operating temperatures respectively, with similar optical and background conditions. In addition, we have demonstrated MWIR and LWIR pixel co-registered simultaneously readable dualband QWIP focal plane arrays. In this paper, we will discuss the performance in terms of quantum efficiency, NEΔT, uniformity, operability, and modulation transfer functions of the 1024×1024 pixel arrays and the progress of dualband QWIP focal plane array development work.