Mercury-Cadmium-Telluride Focal Plane Array for Warm Alignment of Imaging Spectroscopy Systems

摘要

A new technique allows a mercury-cadmium-telluride (MCT) focal plane array (FPA) to operate at room temperature. These results were obtained through experimentation by varying the integration time, frame rate, and bias levels to optimize the output when warm. Precise focal plane alignment has been a challenge for the integration and testing of imaging spectrometers for the past several years. This alignment process often results in multiple, week-long-duration cold cycles of the instrument, thereby increasing the risk and cost of the project. Instruments using this FPA are normally cooled to temperatures below 150 K for the MCT FPA to properly function. When the FPA is run at higher temperatures, the dark current increases to the point at which the full well is reached, saturating the output.