@inproceedings{310b7f1175bd451291721e134cda40f1,
title = "Illumination power requirements for an MCT APD vs. a COTS camera at 1.645 um",
abstract = "Active imaging techniques can provide increased signal-to-noise ratio over passive imaging approaches, particularly in the reflective infrared bands (NIR, SWIR, and eSWIR) where passive solar illumination is reduced relative to the visible band. However, providing sufficient illuminator power at long range can introduce severe SWaP tradeoffs for system designers, as the strength of the illumination for a resolved laser spot scales proportionally to the inverse square of the illuminator-to-target distance. Active systems must therefore use illuminator photons efficiently. Avalanche photodiodes (APDs) offer high gain in the electronic domain, allowing the detection of a small number of photons by boosting the signal above the floor imposed by read noise. We compare the contrast-to-noise ratio performance of a mercury-cadmium-telluride (MCT) APD camera and a COTS InGaAs SWIR camera with an illuminator at 1.645 [um] as a function of illuminator power. Factors affecting performance are discussed.",
keywords = "active imaging, APD, infrared, MCT, SWIR, targeting",
author = "Joshua Follansbee and Kayla Frye and Nicholas Hui and Casey Clark and Ronald Driggers and Matthew Kalensky",
note = "Publisher Copyright: {\textcopyright} 2024 SPIE; Unconventional Imaging, Sensing, and Adaptive Optics 2024 ; Conference date: 19-08-2024 Through 23-08-2024",
year = "2024",
doi = "10.1117/12.3027363",
language = "English (US)",
series = "Proceedings of SPIE - The International Society for Optical Engineering",
publisher = "SPIE",
editor = "Dolne, {Jean J.} and Bose-Pillai, {Santasri R.} and Matthew Kalensky",
booktitle = "Unconventional Imaging, Sensing, and Adaptive Optics 2024",
}