A monolithically integrated plasmonic infrared quantum dot camera

In the past few years, there has been increasing interest in surface plasmon-polaritons, as a result of the strong near-field enhancement of the electric fields at a metal-dielectric interface. Here we show the first demonstration of a monolithically integrated plasmonic focal plane array (FPA) in the mid-infrared region, using a metal with a two-dimensional hole array on top of an intersubband quantum-dots-in-a-well (DWELL) heterostructure FPA coupled to a read-out integrated circuit. Excellent infrared imagery was obtained with over a 160% increase in the ratio of the signal voltage (V-s) to the noise voltage (V-n) of the DWELL camera at the resonant wavelength of lambda = 6.1 mu m. This demonstration paves the way for the development of a new generation of pixel-level spectropolarimetric imagers, which will enable bio-inspired (for example, colour vision) infrared sensors with enhanced detectivity (D-star) or higher operating temperatures.