Innovative Techniques for Missile Defense

Voxtel, Inc. proposes to optimize the design of a 1.00-µm to 1.55-µm near infrared (NIR) linear mode (LM)HgCdTe avalanche photodiode (APD) array that achieves high gain with nearly no excess noise, so as to achieve high bandwidth (e.g. > 1 GHz) single photon counting laser radar (LADAR) operation. Leveraging the low noise LM avalanche gain and our low noise CMOS LADAR receiver circuitry, we will achieve photon counting without Geiger Mode (GM) operation. The benefits of the innovation are significant. As the afterpulsing and quenching time associated with GM APD operation limits bandwidth and requires excessive pixel circuitry, the innovation offers the potential for dramatically higher bandwidth, compact, single photon sensitive LADAR systems with potentially higher reliability and with no breakdown-induced cross talk.