Benefits of small pixel focal plane array technology

We report on the demonstration of a high definition high charge capacity 2.1 Mpixel mid-wave infrared (MWIR) Focal Plane Array (FPA). This high definition (HD) FPA utilizes a 2040 x 1156 format and a 5 μm pixel pitch. This small pixel size enables sampling at spatial frequencies greater than the classical Nyquist limit imposed by the optical systems Point Spread Function (PSF). We show that oversampling IRFPAs (Infrared FPA) enable improved fidelity in imaging including resolution improvements, advanced pixel correlation processing to reduce false alarm rates, improved detection ranges, and an improved ability to track closely spaced objects. The small pixel IRFPA achieves good performance in the MWIR band and is expected to detect dimmer signals at longer ranges than previously demonstrated.