APPLICATIONS OF TECHNOLOGY:

  • Scientific imaging (e.g., biological, medical, astronomical)

BENEFITS:

  • Increased spectral information with lower light intensity or lower exposure time relative to current devices
  • Operation in a practical temperature range for use in biological/medical equipment and most telescopes

BACKGROUND:

  • Current state of the art imagers that can color-resolve single photons are of bolometric or filter type. However, bolometric devices must operate at temperatures below 1 Kelvin and are limited in pixel count. Devices that use filters are inefficient, as all the photons rejected by a filter are wasted. Single photon imagers that operate at non-cryogenic temperature (e.g., Silicon Photomultipliers) have large dark counts typically measured in MHz/sq.cm.

TECHNOLOGY OVERVIEW:

Researchers at Berkeley Lab are developing a pixelated electronic sensor for imaging across the range from infra-red to ultraviolet wavelengths. Each pixel can have color-resolved single photon sensitivity without dark counts and without inefficiency. 

Such a high sensitivity spectral imager holds applications in telescopes for astronomical, exoplanet, and distant galaxy imaging as well as in microscopes and medical devices for hyperspectral imaging. Operation in a practical temperature range (i.e. above 70 Kelvin) would allow use within this array of equipment.

DEVELOPMENT STAGE: Proof of principle prototype development

FOR MORE INFORMATION:

https://foundry.lbl.gov/2020/10/14/an-electrical-trigger-fires-single-photons-one-at-a-time/

https://foundry.lbl.gov/2021/12/01/how-can-next-gen-computer-chips-reduce-our-carbon-footprint/

INVESTIGATORS:

STATUS: Patent pending.

OPPORTUNITIES: Available for licensing or collaborative research.

SEE THESE OTHER BERKELEY LAB TECHNOLOGIES IN THIS FIELD:

Compact Hyperspectral Imager IB-3163

TECHNOLOGY CATEGORIES/SUBCATEGORIES:

  • Sensors