Large-Format Voltage-Tunable Dual-Color Midwavelength Infrared Quantum-Well Infrared Photodetector Focal Plane Array

We report a large-format (640 times 512) voltage-tunable quantum-well infrared photodetector (QWIP) focal plane array (FPA) for dual-color imaging in the midwavelength infrared (3-5 mum) band. Voltage-tunable spectral response has been achieved through series connection of two eight-well stacks of AlGaAs-InGaAs epilayers grown by molecular beam epitaxy on GaAs substrate. The peak responsivity wavelength of the detectors is shifted from 4.1 mum (color 1) to 4.7 mum (color 2) as the bias is increased within the limit applicable by commercial read-out integrated circuits. The operability of the FPA is ~99.5% with noise equivalent temperature differences of ~60 and 30 mK (f/1.5) in color modes 1 and 2, respectively. To our knowledge, this is the first large-format voltage-tunable dual-color QWIP FPA reported for midwavelength thermal imaging.