IGF::OT::IGF FOR A WIDE RANGE OF REMOTE SENSING APPLICATIONS, THERE IS A CRITICAL NEED TO DEVELOP IMAGING A…

Public award description

IGF::OT::IGF FOR A WIDE RANGE OF REMOTE SENSING APPLICATIONS, THERE IS A CRITICAL NEED TO DEVELOP IMAGING ARRAYS THAT SIMULTANEOUSLY ACHIEVE HIGH SPATIAL RESOLUTION, HIGH SENSITIVITY, AND SUB-NANOSECOND TIMING RESOLUTION. MANY OF THESE REMOTE SENSING APPLICATIONS FURTHERMORE ARE SATELLITE AND SPACE BASED, WHERE THE IMAGING ARRAY ALSO NEEDS TO BE RAD HARD; PARTICULARLY FOR THE HARSH RADIATION ENVIRONMENTS TYPICALLY FOUND ON CERTAIN DEEP SPACE MISSIONS, SUCH AS TO THE MOONS OF JUPITER. LIGHTSPIN TECHNOLOGIES IS DEVELOPING A HIGH PERFORMANCE SOLID-STATE CROSS-STRIP ANODE IMAGING SINGLE PHOTON AVALANCHE DIODE (SPAD) ARRAY TECHNOLOGY USING RAD HARD GAAS SPAD ARRAYS. THIS APPROACH PROMISES SUBSTANTIAL IMPROVEMENTS IN SPATIAL RESOLUTION (<10 MICRONS), TIMING RESOLUTION (<100 PSEC), AND COUNT RATE (>10 GCPS). LIGHTSPIN HAS PROVEN THE CONCEPT PROVIDES EXCELLENT PERFORMANCE IN SMALL ARRAYS (8 X 8 PIXELS) AND DEVELOPED A THEORETICAL FOUNDATION ENABLING RAPID SCALING OF THE ARRAYS TO ACHIEVE MEGAPIXEL RESOLUTION AT LOW COST.