Corrugated QWIP for Tactical Army Applications
Abstract
L-3 Communications Cincinnati Electronics (CE), the Army Research Laboratory (ARL), and the Army Night Vision and Electronic Sensors Directorate (NVESD) have been developing the corrugated quantum well infrared photodetector (C-QWIP) technology for applications in tactical LWIR imaging. The C-QWIP was invented at ARL and shows promise to overcome some of the limitations in commercially available QWIPs. The CQWIP uses micro mirrors on the detector to turn the polarization of the incident photons. This offers two distinct advantages over the grating couplers used in commercial QWIPs. The first is that the effectiveness for turning the polarization is much higher, thus higher absorption quantum efficiency is possible. Second, the reflection off the micro-mirrors is wavelength independent. This allows the material to completely define spectral response of the QWIP. CE and ARL have fabricated C-QWIP FPAs with bandwidths exceeding 3 micrometer, roughly 5 times wider than current commercial QWIPs. The increased bandwidth and quantum efficiency of the C-QWIP shows much promise to achieve the speed, sensitivity, and resolution needed for Army tactical systems.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Dec 01, 2008
- Accession Number
- ADA505709
Entities
People
- Darrel W. Endres
- David P. Forrai
- John J. O'neill
- Kwong-kit Choi
Organizations
- United States Army Research Laboratory