In the past few years, there has been increasing interest in surface plasmon-polaritons, as a result of the strong near-field enhancement of the electric fields at a metal-dielectric interface. Here we show the first demonstration of a monolithically integrated plasmonic focal plane array (FPA) in the mid-infrared region, using a metal with a two-dimensional hole array on top of an intersubband quantum-dots-in-a-well (DWELL) heterostructure FPA coupled to a read-out integrated circuit. Excellent infrared imagery was obtained with over a 160% increase in the ratio of the signal voltage (V s ) to the noise voltage (V n ) of the DWELL camera at the resonant wavelength of λ = 6.1 µm. This demonstration paves the way for the development of a new generation of pixel-level spectropolarimetric imagers, which will enable bio-inspired (for example, colour vision) infrared sensors with enhanced detectivity (D*) or higher operating temperatures.

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A midwave infrared camera ͑ c = 4.2 m͒ with a 320ϫ 256 focal plane array ͑FPA͒ based on type-II InAs/ GaSb strain layer superlattice ͑SLs͒ has been demonstrated. The detectors consist of an nBn heterostructure, wherein the SL absorber and contact layers are separated by a Al 0.2 Ga 0.8 Sb barrier layer, which is designed to have a minimum valence band offset. Unlike a PN junction, the size of the device is not defined by a mesa etch but confined by the lateral diffusion length of minority carriers. At 77 K, the FPA demonstrates a temporal noise equivalent temperature difference ͑NETD͒ of 23.8 mK ͑T int = 16.3 ms and V b = 0.7 V͒ with a peak quantum efficiency and detectivity at 3.8 m equal to 52% and 6.7ϫ 10 11 Jones, respectively.

The authors report a two-color, colocated quantum dot based imaging system used to take multicolor images using a single focal plane array (FPA). The dots-in-a-well (DWELL) detectors consist of an active region composed of InAs quantum dots embedded in In.15Ga.85As quantum wells. DWELL samples were grown using molecular beam epitaxy and fabricated into 320×256 focal plane arrays with indium bumps. The FPA was then hybridized to an Indigo ISC9705 readout circuit and tested. Calibrated blackbody measurements at a device temperature of 77K yield midwave infrared and long wave infrared noise equivalent difference in temperature of ∼55 and 70mK.