Program Summary
Infrared (IR) detectors underpin a vast application space including night vision, battlefield surveillance, terrestrial and space imaging, biochemical fingerprinting, and non-invasive medical diagnosis. Current IR detectors fall in one of two categories – thermal sensors that detect IR radiation as heat, and photodetectors that convert IR radiation into electric current. While the former class of sensors can operate at room temperature, they are highly limited in their sensitivity and response time. In contrast, while IR photodetectors are capable of quantum-limited sensitivity, they require cryogenic cooling, which limits their widespread use. The OpTIm program seeks to develop integrated, room-temperature, and quantum-limited IR detectors that bridge the current technological gap between low performance, room-temperature bolometers and cryogenically-cooled photodetectors.
Performers in OpTIm will seek to develop, validate and benchmark a new class of room-temperature IR detectors that combine optomechanical sensitivity, quantum-limited all-optical readout, and dynamically tunable narrowband or multispectral detection capabilities. OpTIm also aims to establish the fundamental performance limits of this new modality of infrared detection.