Two-dimensional indium gallium arsenide avalanche photodiode arrays for high sensitivity, high speed imaging

摘要

Demonstrations of three-dimensional imaging using a raster-scanned laser and a single detector have shown the utility of the three-dimensional technique in a wide variety of military applications. There is currently substantial effort being expended in the development of "flash" three dimensional imaging in which the return of a single laser pulse is timed, pixel-by-pixel, using a two-dimensional focal plane array. InGaAs Avalanche photodiodes (APDs) provide higher sensitivity than InGaAs PIN or HgCdTe PIN detectors in the eye-safe 1.55μm band which translates into greater range for a given laser pulse energy. Progress towards large area InGaAs APD arrays is reported here.