Design and Development of Radiation Hardened Anti-Reflection (AR) Coatings for Next Generation LWIR and Multicolor IRFPA's

Magnolia proposes to develop improved radiation hardened AR coatings for Next Generation multi-color HgCdTe, PbSnTe and QWIP detector arrays on silicon substrates, that will enhance the life of the these detector arrays, when exposed to space environment that includes extreme temperature variations and exposure to solar radiation. Magnolia proposes to evaluate new materials that include CdTe, Si3N4 and diamond like carbon (DLC) that have the spectral response in the 8-14 micron region and are hard materials with excellent bond strength. A combination of these materials offers the potential of developing anti-reflection coatings with high optical quality and with controlled physical properties. Magnolia will also evaluate graded coatings. Magnolia will demonstrate that these coatings are radiation hard and will provide next generation multicolor IRFPA's for MDA space system applications.