ALPHACORE INC — Department of Defense SBIR Phase I: MDA18-018

Description

Performance goals: • • High-photon sensitivity centered around 1064nm laser wavelength • • Formats of 128 x 128 or larger • • Time-of-flight measurements with a resolution of a few nanoseconds or better • • Operation in either Geiger-mode or Linear-mode • • Hardened to radiation in low Earth orbits (up to 1000 km) and lower medium Earth orbits (< ~13,000 km) with the goal of radiation hardening to meet the harsh environment of the inner Van Allen Belt To meet these requirements, Alphacore, proposes to develop a new low SWAP-C approach to a digital readout integrated circuit (DROIC) that allows a single DROIC to be reconfigurable, through digital programmability, to support multi-mission operation. At the end of Phase II, the unique DROIC will be used with a Geiger / linear mode avalanche photodiode (APD) array to produce a focal plane array (FPA) that will support this multi-mode, multi-mission operation. This will be accomplished by a single DROIC with multiple modes of operation. Using a capacitive trans-impedance amplifier (CTIA), with multiple gain settings to accommodate different full well capacities (FWC), a single DROIC can be configured to support high dynamic range passive imaging applications, where the background can vary. Approved for Public Release | 18-MDA-9817 (23 Oct 18)