In the Advanced Detectors Research Group of the Air Force Research Laboratory's Space Vehicles Directorate, we work to enhance existing detector technologies and develop new detector capabilities for future space-based missions, most often using photonic techniques. To that end, we present some ideas we are presently investigating: (i) tuning the wavelength response of detectors using applied electric or magnetic fields, (ii) detecting the full polarization vector of a signal within a single pixel of a quantum well detector, (iii) monolithic solid-state cooling of a detector using photoluminescence, and (iv) enhancement of weak electromagnetic fields using interactions with plasmons.
|