Room-Temperature Infrared Focal Plane Array Performance

The potential performance of infrared focal plane arrays operating at room temperature under both diffraction-limited and background-limited conditions is modeled. Operation at the diffraction limit ensures the ultimate in system range performance whilst at the same time providing a limit on available system sensitivity. The model is applied to predict the available room-temperature system performance of both photon and thermal detector architectures across the complete infrared spectrum. The limitations required of various system parameters to achieve background- and diffraction-limited performance are discussed.