*** 9760581 Hood This Small Business Innovation Research Phase I project addresses research toward a novel detector design which can offer the potential for high-sensitivity, low-noise, and large formats. It has the added feature of being highly flexible in the design of pixel-to-pixel spectral sensitivity from 2 to over 25 microns. Large-format, low-noise, highly-sensitive infrared detector arrays play an important role in modern astronomy. If this research is succcessful, it can provide improvements in infrared detector technology which can enable a continuation of the rapid advances being made in infrared astronomy. This project will utilize specialized design software developed at the Ohio State University, ElectroScience Laboratory to optimize the absorbing structures; draw upon the NSF supported Cornell Nanofabrication Facility to fabricate a series of test structures; and test the proof-of-principle detectors. The commercial potential for this technology is low-cost large-format room temperature and cryogenic infrared sensor arrays. These arrays can be used in military, industrial monitoring and control, and surveillance applications. ***
