Large Area Staring Array Cryogenic Packaging for Early Warning Systems

AF ground based and airborne early warning systems are continuously demanding larger Staring Focal Plane Arrays (FPA's) to carry out their mission. Such large format Staring FPA's are currently under active investigation and development by the Air Force Rome Laboratory/Electromagnetics and Reliability Directorate (RL/ER). As Staring FPA formats increase, the package (dewar) designer is faced with the ever-increasing difficult task of providing proper cooling within the system constraints. Infrared Components Corporation (ICC) has developed, manufactured, and successfully tested, proprietary designs for Integrated Detector Assemblies (IDAs.) We propose to carry out thermal, structural and temperature uniformity analyses and collect relevant crypcooler data for such large format FPA's. Based on the results of these tasks, and the existing ICC designs, a preliminary design will be carried out. This will be appropriate for demonstrationof the cryogenic technologies in Phase II.