At the Space Vehicles Directorate of the Air Force Research Laboratory, we are investigating detector concepts of use in Space Situational Awareness scenarios. For such applications, the object of interest is usually far away and often very dim. Our challenge becomes trying to identify such dim/distant space objects. To that end, we are investigating two optical signal amplification schemes and a wavelength-tunable detector scheme. One of the amplification schemes involves quantum interference in quantum dots in photonic crystal cavities, and one of the schemes involves near-field enhancements due to plasmonic interactions on patterned metal surfaces. The tunable detector scheme involves burying semiconductor quantum dots in one quantum well of a double-quantum-well structure, and then biasing the structure laterally.

Date Published: 5 May 2010
PDF: 8 pages
Proc. SPIE 7679, Micro- and Nanotechnology Sensors, Systems, and Applications II, 767903 (5 May 2010); doi: 10.1117/12.851072

Published in SPIE Proceedings Vol. 7679:
Micro- and Nanotechnology Sensors, Systems, and Applications II
Thomas George; M. Saif Islam; Achyut Kumar Dutta, Editor(s)