Description: Princeton Infrared Technologies is proposing to build a Short Wave Infrared Imager (1.0 to 3.0 µm) 640x512 resolution camera with 28-bit dynamic range. The effective full well of this imager will be >3Ge-, allowing the wide spectral range detector to operate with minimal cooling. The detector will be composed of a lattice matched InGaAsSb on GaSb planar detector structure allowing for low dark current with minimal cooling. The use of 100 mm GaSb substrates grown by molecular beam epitaxy (MBE) for photodiode array (PDA) production will allow for low-cost production using a planar structure to reduce dark current and provide greater radiation tolerance than mesa-based devices. The 640x512 resolution imager will be placed in a deliverable camera allowing a read noise of <275e- and the ability to process >250 frames per second (fps) at full resolution and bit depth with a two-point correction. The camera will feature a common commercial output type, such as 10GiGe, allowing simple integration to various systems.

Benefits: This wide waveband and very large dynamic range imager will allow NASA to conduct atmospheric studies from satellites or high-altitude aircraft for the assessment of carbon dioxide, oxygen, and methane levels under various lighting conditions in the same scene. The large dynamic range imager will also allow for warmer operating temperatures which is beneficial for satellites on deep space missions where thermal management is critical. Applications such as plastics sorting of recyclables, methane detection for pipeline inspection and factory emissions, pharmaceutical process control, blood glucose measurements, and mineral identification are conducted on materials with spectroscopic signatures that are more prevalent at wavelengths in the extended SWIR range.