Enhancing the Performance of Infrared Detectors for Space Applications

At the Air Force Research Laboratory's Space Vehicles Directorate, we are investigating how nanostructured metal surfaces can produce plasmon-enhanced fields to improve detectivity of a detector material placed directly below the metal surface. We are also investigating a wavelength-tunable detector scheme that involves a coupled double quantum well structure with a thin middle barrier between the two wells. The photocurrent from this structure will be swept out with a lateral bias. Another form of wavelength tunability is to have a tunable filter in front of a broadband detector. There are many avenues of research that lead to such a device. The way we are approaching this is via the new field of metamaterials. Not only might these new materials present us a way to tune the light that is incident upon a detector, but such research might also lead to ways to obtain sub-diffraction-limit resolution and the concentration of light using flat lenses for increased signal-to-noise ratios. In this talk we will discuss the research efforts being pursued in the above areas.