Development of mid-wavelength and long-wavelength megapixel portable QWIP imaging cameras

Mid-wavelength infrared (MWIR) and long-wavelength infrared (LWIR) megapixel quantum well infrared photodetector (QWIP) focal plane arrays have been demonstrated with excellent imaging performance. The MWIR detector array has shown noise equivalent temperature difference (NETD) of 17 mK at 95 K operating temperature with f/2.5 optics at 300 K background and the LWIR detector array has given NETD of 13 m K at 70 K operating temperature with the same optical and background conditions as the MWIR array. Two portable prototype infrared cameras were fabricated using these two focal planes. The MWIR and the LWIR prototype cameras with similar optics have shown background limited performance (BLIP) at 90 K and 70 K operating temperatures respectively, at 300 K background. In this paper, we will discuss their performance in quantum efficiency, NETD, uniformity, and operability.