SBIR-STTR Award

Long standing relationships with the Ioffe Institute have allowed ATEC to license novel LED technologies developed by Matveev and co-workers, including InGaAs LEDs that emit in the 3 to 5 um region and Negative Luminescence devices that are capable of simulating objects at temperatures below ambient. The goal of the proposed work is to adapt a high efficiency optically pumped GaAs LED stucture developed by Matveev and co-workers to demonstrate InGaAs LED point sources that operate in the 3 to 5 um region. These devices will provide both positive and negative luminescence output and extremely fast modulation speeds. Effective source radiation temperatures in excess of 600 degrees C and modulation speeds of up to 10 MHz are expected from these devices. Phase I will concentrate on demonstration of the device concept. Fabrication services will be provided by the Ioffe Institute, with technical consulting provided to ATEC by Matveev and co-workers. This approach, coupled with the use of a proven device architecture, substantially moderates the technical risk normally associated with development of new electro-optic devices in a small business environment. Phase II will focus on completion of prototype development and transfer of design and manufacturing responsibility to a US manufacturing partner, identified during Phase I

This project addresses the need for high performance IR LEDs for scene generation in hardware-in-the-loop facilities and for the in situ calibration of IR optics in seekers and reconnaissance satellites. The Ioffe Institute has developed leading technologies to produce LEDs with high output, low operating voltage, and low thermal resistance. These solid-state devices are capable of simulating high temperature point sources. ATEC has licensed these novel LED technologies. During Phase II, the Ioffe Institute’s LED technology will be transferred to the US, via a collaboration of ATEC, a US university, and a US epitaxial wafer fabricator. Our goal is to demonstrate higher power LEDs (> 1.5 mW CW power) and, therefore, higher simulated temperature, by adapting the existing design to include more transparent substrates and to suppress Auger recombination by the intelligent design of active regions. Effective simulated temperatures in the 2000 – 3000 K are expected from these enhancements. Besides the efforts to improve the performance of the individual IR LEDs, an array of the LEDs will be fabricated to demonstrate their utility in scene generation.

Keywords:
INFRARED, LED, SCENE GENERATION, OPTICS, CALIBRATION, BLACKBODY, RADIATION