Multi-Spectral Infrared Focal Plane Array For Wildfire And Burning-Biomass Analysis

An important NASA mission is to remotely analyze fires, such as wildfires and burning biomasses, for their chemical content. The chemical species of most interest have infrared spectral signatures at wavelengths ranging from 1.5 microns to 12 microns. A broadband infrared focal plane array (FPA) with that spectral coverage and high quantum efficiency is a key technology to enable this mission. QmagiQ has already developed high-performance FPAs with broadband response from 3-13 microns using strained layer superlattices (SLS). In Phase I, we will develop detector recipes to shorten the cuton wavelength from 3 microns to ~ 1 micron, and demonstrate it in actual FPAs. In Phase II, we will develop methods to integrate a set of spectral filters right on the FPA, covering the specific wavelengths of interest. The result will be a multi-spectral FPA with the smallest possible footprint, which will translate into a small light multi-spectral camera useful for a variety of NASA earth-observing and remote-sensing missions.