Nanoscale Quantum Dot Infrared Sensors: Building Blocks of an Infrared Retina

Reference number: STC-PS-0830
Inventor(s): M. Hayat; S. Krishna; J. Tyo
For more information, contact: Erin M. Beaumont (505-272-7912) or Minh D. Tran (505-272-7937)

Patent(s)

Application(s) pending

Background

Infrared imaging has more than proved itself useful within countless fields since its inception. The natural progression within this technology is to add the ability to obtain color images from infrared sensors. This functionality would no doubt be extremely advantageous within the areas of remote sensing, camouflage defeating, remote identification of chemical and biological agents as well as anomaly detection amongst many others. Present technologies utilize intricate assemblies consisting of multiple-color Focal Plane Arrays (FPA) with integrated spectral filters to achieve a limited color response. Conventional Multi-Spectral Imagery (MSI) sensors are designed to have a small number of spectrally distinct bands. Typical instruments have about 10 spectrally unique bands in the visible, near IR, and mid IR. Furthermore, most MSI systems utilize spatially separate focal plane arrays to measure each spectral band. This leads to increased system cost and results in large data volumes that make storage and transmission of data challenging in real time.

Technology

This invention proposes an infrared retina that exploits the continuous spectral tunability of mid-infrared nanoscale quantum-dot based sensors. The detectors sense information over different spectrally overlapping bands, similar to the cones in the human eye. The resulting spectral diversity can be exploited in an array format with either fixed spatial functionality, as is done in the retina, or dynamic spatiotemporal functionality. This proposed scheme offers a new paradigm for infrared sensors that could provide infrared-color imaging capabilities akin to visible spectrum three-color imaging and photography.

Applications/Advantages

•Ultra/Hyper-spectral image response used in military applications such as defeating camouflage and remote identification of chemical and biological compounds
•Application in anomaly detection, which would allow users to detect targets whose signatures are different from their surroundings
•Spectrally, temporally and spatially tunable
•Extendible to other technologies
•Significantly reduces cost and complexity
•Operates without filters, gratings, or other optical components


Quantum Dot Based Infrared Focal Plane Arrays. S. Krishna, S. D. Gunapala, S. V. Bandara, C. Hill, and D. Z. Ting, Proceedings of the IEEE In Proceedings of the IEEE, 2007, vol. 95, no. 9, pp. 1838-1852.

Downloads

• UNM-830 Published Patent App (869.02 KB PDF)

Keywords

Chemical Detection / Sensing

Related Categories

• Optoelectronics and Lasers