Advancing QWIP toward HD thermal and polarimetric imaging in LWIR

Thanks to their high technology readiness level, quantum well infrared photodetectors (QWIP) provide an efficient and swift solution for meeting the increased demand for advanced LWIR imaging systems. IRnova's present portfolio includes QWIP detectors for LWIR dual-colour, gas detection, and polarimetric imaging on 30 and 15 μm pitch, while the development of large-format HD arrays on 10 μm pitch is ongoing.

In this work, the latest advancements for LWIR QWIP detectors (peak absorption at 8.5 μm) are presented: firstly, focusing on the progress on HD-format detectors on 10 μm pitch and secondly, presenting the enhanced polarization contrast in IRnova's VGA-format polarimetric detector Fenrir (640×512 on 15 μm pitch). In the new Fenrir, the polarization contrast has increased from ~25% to ~40%, resulting in improved tracing of the polarimetric signatures as visualized by field tests. Furthermore, by employing array-wide pixel-level spectroscopy, excellent spatial uniformity across detector arrays has been confirmed.