This paper discusses a method for characterizing the combined effects of temporal and spatial noise in staring infrared focal plane arrays (IRFPA) and presents example measurements using a metric called D*(array). Two staring MWIR IRFPA's (HgCdTe and InSb) were calibrated and operated using an automated data acquisition system. Measurements were made under varying flux levels to determine the effects of nonlinearities on the nonuniformity correction process and the related ultimate performance of an IR sensor. The results show that the sensitivity of IRFPA's can be significantly degraded by very small nonlinearities. It was also found that the usable operating range of an array after two-point nonuniformity correction can be much less than that expected from simple dynamic range measurements of the IRFPA response function.

Date Published: 1 July 1992
PDF: 9 pages
Proc. SPIE 1686, Test and Evaluation of IR Detectors and Arrays II, (1 July 1992); doi: 10.1117/12.60534

Published in SPIE Proceedings Vol. 1686:
Test and Evaluation of IR Detectors and Arrays II
Forney M. Hoke, Editor(s)