Research on polarization performance of InGaAs focal plane array integrated with superpixel-structured subwavelength grating

Opt Express. 2019 Apr 1;27(7):9447-9458. doi: 10.1364/OE.27.009447.

Abstract

Polarization imaging has become a widely-applied detection technique, due to the capabilities of enhanced image contrast and object recognition. Here, we demonstrate 320 × 256 InGaAs focal plane array (FPA) integrated with superpixel-structured subwavelength aluminum grating. An extinction ratio of up to 19:1 at 1310 nm is realized, which indicates a good capability of near-infrared polarization detection. Theoretical simulation shows a fairly high extinction ratio for such superpixel structure. This difference between the actual extinction ratio and the theoretical extinction ratio is further discussed by analyzing the effects of the alignment deviation and structural parameter deviations induced during the actual process. Moreover, the imaging results show that the fabricated polarimetric InGaAs FPA presents a more obvious profile for artificial objects, compared to the conventional detector. Such FPAs integrated with superpixel-structured grating are very promising for high performance polarization imaging in the short wavelength infrared band.