Lead-Salt Infrared Detectors

St Johns Optical Systems (SJOS) has already made a committed to a technology transition for lead salt focal plane arrays in collaboration with BAE Systems. This SBIR will allow us to develop new detectors that are well suited for threat-warning applications and for commercial use with industrial inspection. We will incorporate and expand upon advances in PbSe detectors made under our participation in the DARPA WIRED program along with BAE Systems. In addition, ternary alloy lead salts are within the capability of the existing SJOS lead salt film growth facility, and will offer new possibilities for detector performance. Research by our team to date has already begun to incorporate these techniques, and shows promise to boost signal-to-noise by more than a factor of 10. This would be sufficient to realize the goals of this program based on our existing measurements. Here we propose research and development in ternary alloy lead salts in order to achieve a range of cutoff wavelengths from 3.5 to 4.6 m with a D* on the order of 1E11 Jones based on standard lead salt detector characterization practices.