Josephson junctions (JJs) are ubiquitous superconducting devices, enabling high sensitivity magnetometers and voltage amplifiers, as well forming the basis of performance cryogenic computer quantum computers. While JJ can be degraded by quasiparticles (QPs) formed from broken Cooper pairs, this phenomenon also opens opportunities to sensitively detect electromagnetic radiation. Here we demonstr...

Development of a detector case for complete co-registration of images in a non-fiber-based combined near-infrared spectral tomography and digital breast tomosynthesis, required analysis to find materials that could support a breast under full mammographic compression without affecting the x-ray images or the quality of the near infrared measurements. Several possible solutions were considered, ...

A parametric model for the infrared signature caused by a buried land mine is presented. Further, a detector is calculated for the case where the background noise can be described by an autoregressive process. The detector separately estimates the parameters of the mine and the noise in an alternating fashion. The estimates are then used in the likelihood ratio test. Simulations show that signi...

Infrared detector development and characterization at NASA Langley Research Center will be reviewed. These detectors were intended for ground, airborne, and space borne remote sensing applications. Discussion will be focused on recently developed single-element infrared detector and future development of near-infrared focal plane arrays (FPA). The FPA will be applied to next generation space-ba...

We study the sensitivities of space infrared interferometers. We formulate the signal-to-noise ratios of infrared images obtained by aperture synthesis in the presence of source shot noise, background shot noise, and detector read noise. We consider the case in which n beams are combined pairwise at n(n-1)/2 detectors and the case in which all the n beams are combined at a single detector. We a...

The advent of nanophotonics allows devising and fabricating optical antenna as the advanced optical structures that can enhance light–matter interaction in quantum structures such as quantum wells. Improving infrared photodetector performance is discussed theoretically in this paper. We also investigate our recent demonstration of optical antenna integrated on quantum well infrared photodetecto...

We compare a nonlinear upconversion detector with a conventional cryogenic InSb detector for the detection of coherent infrared light showing near-shot-noise-limited performance in the upconversion system. The InSb detector is limited by dark noise, which results in a 500 times lower signal-to-noise ratio. The two detectors are compared for the detection of a coherent degenerate four-wave mixin...

We have designed and constructed a custom far-infrared Fourier transform spectrometer using an antenna-coupled bolometer as a detector. The active element of the detector is a superconducting niobium microbridge, and the far-infrared signal is coupled to the microbridge via a planar antenna mounted on a hyperhemispherical silicon lens. The spectrometer uses a broadband blackbody source with fre...

This Chapter covers recent advances in Short Wavelength Infrared (SWIR), Medium Wave‐ length Infrared (MWIR) and Long Wavelength Infrared (LWIR) materials and device technol‐ ogies for a variety of defense and commercial applications. Infrared technology is critical for military and security applications, as well as increasingly being used in many commercial products such as medical diagnostics...

The performance of a pyroelectric detector with a carbon multi-walled nanotube coating was evaluated in the 0.9 μm to 14 μm wavelength range. The relative spectral responsivity of this detector was shown to be flat over most of the wavelength range examined and the spectral flatness was shown to be comparable to the best infrared black coatings currently available. The performance of the detect...