Delta-doped FUV, NUV, and UV/optical CMOS imagers for exoplanet science, astrophysics and time domain astronomy

The Astro2020 decadal survey envisions a Habitable Worlds Observatory (HWO) for revolutionary advances in exoplanet science, general astrophysics and time domain astronomy in the UV/visible/near IR spectral range. In a project funded by NASA’s Strategic Astrophysics Technology Program, JPL is partnering with industry and academia to fabricate, characterize, and mature CMOS image sensors using nanoscale surface engineering to address technology gaps identified for HWO science. Initial fabrication of delta-doped detectors has been completed, and performance and environmental tests are underway at JPL and Caltech. Columbia University and JPL are developing a CMOS camera for on-sky observations with an integral field spectrograph at MDM Observatory. The University of Colorado is developing engineering designs for incorporating a delta-doped CMOS image sensor in sounding rocket and cubesat payloads. We will present the latest results of our work in support of NASA’s goals for HWO.