High Performance SWIR Imaging Cameras

Silicon based area detectors (e.g. CCDs or CMOS) are widely used in high performance imaging applications, detecting wavelengths from soft x-ray through to near infrared (NIR). Typically, the quantum efficiency (QE) of these detectors decreases rapidly as the detection wavelength increases further into the NIR region. Above 1100nm, Silicon is transparent and therefore cannot be used to directly detect photons of these wavelengths, however many other materials do have photon sensitivity at wavelengths of 1μm and longer.