Leveraging Opportunity for Detector Based on New Physics of Gain

Take full advantage of a 5 year, ~$10M DoD detector development program, kicked off in April ’19, for which the PI and sponsors have identified LaRC’s ACCP mission concepts as the first transition opportunity. Gain in conventional solid state detectors is achieved by avalanche ionization, which is a noisy process that requires high (~100 V) voltages. The DoD program involves maturing CMOS photodiodes that produce gain by way of a recently-discovered physics called “cycling excitation process” (CEP) LaRC will continue to engage in technical interchange meetings with the PI and sponsors to identify and refine requirements, and guide development of the array towards a detector that meets ACCP requirements LaRC will aid in characterization of the detector at each wafer iteration to ensure that the array converges on the required specifications, and uncover issues early in the program. Resultant product will be an array of CEP diodes integrated with readout circuitry on the same wafer, designed with RHBD/RHBP techniques and radiation tested, microlensed and packaged, ready for qualification to TRL-6

CEP photodiodes produce much higher gain at much lower voltages (~3.3 V), exhibit very low excess noise, and could potentially be more radiation tolerant. These properties could make CEP photodiodes transformative for lidar, particularly spaceborne atmosphere and ocean lidar.

This is a mature technology (TRL 7+) — the realistic path in is usually NASA's Technology Transfer Program: licensing an existing NASA patent, or a Space Act Agreement to use NASA facilities/expertise directly. NASA also runs a startup licensing program with no upfront fee for companies formed to commercialize a specific NASA technology.

None of these are guaranteed paths for this specific project — TechPort itself doesn't have an "apply" button. Reaching out to the contact(s) above with a specific question is usually the fastest way to find out what's actually open.