Laboratory and field performance of megapixel QWIP focal plane arrays

We present the results of laboratory and field testing of a very large format (1024 × 1024 pixels) focal plane array (FPA) made using quantum well infrared photodetector (QWIP) technology. The FPA was produced by QWIP Technologies, Inc. and tested at the Army Research Laboratory (ARL). Tests performed included spectral response, dark current, 3d-noise, minimum resolvable temperature (MRT) and optical crosstalk. The spectral response was found to peak at 8.55 μm. The device was found to have conversion efficiency close to 10% and the level of dark current was low enough to allow background limited infrared performance (BLIP) at 76 K. The pixel operability was in excess of 97% and there were no large cluster defects. The FPA was thinned to less than 20 μm to allow thermal cycling and sharp focus. We will show indoor and outdoor imagery acquired with the FPA. The FPA was installed in a camera system that was taken to a major field test. We will show initial results of the analysis of the image data collected at that test. Vehicles of military interest were imaged at ranges between 500 m and 5 km.