Large-Area, Rad-Hard, Near Infrared Focal Plane Array for Coherent Holographic LADAR Applications

ABSTRACT: Voxtel proposes the development of a novel burst mode Wavefront/Wavefunction focal plane array (FPA), with a 64 64 InGaAs detector array composed of 36 36 m2 pixel elements with quantum efficiency greater than 95% across the near infrared (NIR) spectral range from 1 to 1.5 m. The FPAs sensitivity will be aided by a custom readout integrated circuit (ROIC) that features multiple amplitude samples per pixel (in support of burst mode operation), snapshot imaging with gating down to 100 ns, DC skimming for LO pedestal removal, correlated double sampling (CDS), region-of-interest (ROI) readout, and 4 parallel output ports, so that 1.5 kHz burst mode operation can be sustained. The Phase II work plan includes the design, fabrication, and electrical evaluation of the full-format (640 x 512) wavefunction sensor (WFS)-ROIC design. Following electrical evaluation, the WFS-ROIC will be optically demonstrated through hybridization to the InGaAs detector array. BENEFIT: The proposed technology is applicable to traditional LADAR markets, including 3D data for targeting, autonomous navigation, automotive cruise control and hazard avoidance. When scaled for commercial application, the innovation will have widespread application in the areas of medicine, engineering, optical computing, and gene sequencing.