BANPIL PHOTONICS Inc — Department of Defense SBIR Phase I: AF182-107

Description

The Air Force has a requirement for a high responsivity small pitch multifunctional LADAR receiver for ground, air, and space-based LADAR systems where high-resolution 3D imaging is needed for enhanced situational awareness or navigation. A high gain (>1000), high bandwidth (BW), and low noise (having k-value <0.02) avalanche photodiode (APD) and its array of 32x32-elements with pixel pitch <20 µm, and having spectral response 1.0 to 2.4 �m, will be developed, providing gain-bandwidth product >300 GHz for multifunction LADAR receiver. The APDs will be hybridized with read-out and will be demonstrated 3D LADAR receiver functionality. The innovative LADAR receiver will be based upon a high gain (> 1000) @ >300 GHz gain-bandwidth (BW) product, low excess noise (k < 0.02) APD technology with high quantum efficiency (>80%) between 1000-2400 nm, deployed in a 32x32-element array of pixel pitch <20 µm sensitive area. In Phase I, a series of detector structures will be grown and calibrated for the target sensitivity window. In Phase II, the proposed APD LADAR receiver array will be fabricated and hybridized to a low-noise readout integrated circuit enabling testing of the higher sensitivity and higher bandwidth device. At the end of Phase II, the APD based LADAR