SIVANANTHAN LABORATORIES, INC. — Department of Defense SBIR Phase I: A16-130

Description

Infrared polarimetry has proven to enhance target detection and tracking in cluttered environments, and is of significant importance to high energy laser weapon targeting systems. Modern state of the art infrared polarimeters possess numerous limitations that render them impractical for tracking at high slew-rates. Efforts have been made to implement micropolarization filters directly onto a focal plane array (FPA), however hybridized FPA technology limits performance through excessive polarization crosstalk and robustness issues caused by the need for back thinning. HgTe colloidal quantum dot (CQD) FPAs, developed by Sivananthan Laboratories, are MWIR photon detectors, demonstrate high performance and fast response, have the potential for uncooled operation, and are monolithically integrated with readout integrated circuits. Monolithic integration enables the fabrication of micropolarizer array directly onto the absorber material, making high performance, compact, and robust polarimeters possible. As experts in CQD FPA technology and computational modeling, we propose to develop plasmonic micropolarizer filter arrays, compatible with CQD technology, through computational modeling and fabrication process development as a part of the Phase I effort. A compact and high performance polarimetric FPA will be developed with a resolution of 1344 x 784 and capable of operating at frame rates up to 4,380 fps (windowed).