ALPHACORE INC — Department of Defense SBIR Phase II: OSD222-D02

Description

Existing THz devices have not yet provided all the imaging functionalities required to fulfill non-destructive imaging and remote sensing applications. Most of the THz imaging and spectroscopy systems utilize single-pixel detectors, which results in a severe trade-off between the measurement time and field-of-view.   Lack of large-format (many-pixel) sensor arrays is one of the major hurdles for the proliferation of THz sensing methodologies and related applications like medical imaging and security screening.  In this Direct-to-Phase II program, the team will demonstrate a fieldable prototype THz-FPA meeting the required bandwidth (1-3 THz) and dynamic range (>30dB) for large-format (>1 kilo pixel) with at least 1fps. The FPA will be fully integrated on a single CMOS chip, including the antenna receivers, RF detectors and baseband detectors, and processing unit. The key technologies that will be optimized include the detector architecture and bandwidth, including continuous-wave and time-domain sensing alternatives using solid-state and photoconductive sensors, integrating the readout technologies into an ASIC, leveraging our existing read out integrated circuits (ROICs), detector to ROIC interface optimization and full system integration.