SBIR Phase I: Nanowire Photocathode Array

这个小型企业创新研究(SBIR)第一阶段项目致力于开发用于微型高速光电探测器的纳米级光电阴极结构。这项创新是利用基于材料特性的自组装技术来设计用于光电子器件的纳米结构。NanoSciences计划为潜在的光电倍增管应用制作纳米线阵列光电阴极结构的原型。采用的技术是将Sb电镀到纳米通道的多孔氧化铝基质中。氧化铝基质被部分去除，暴露出均匀有序的Sb纳米线阵列，这些纳米线暴露在铯中形成Cs3Sb。由于纳米结构的降维，所提出的纳米线光电阴极具有更大的比表面积、可调的折射率和降低的电子亲和力。这些特性导致比传统架构更高的量子效率。这项研究旨在开发微型高速光电倍增管的组件，这些组件在光通信、医学成像、夜视系统、机器人和机器视觉系统、质谱学、导弹防御系统和基础科学研究中有应用。

This Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase I project seeks to develop nanometer scale photocathode structures for use in miniature high-speed photodetectors. The innovation is to use material property based self-assembling techniques to engineer nanostructures for use in optoelectronic devices. NanoSciences proposes to prototype nanowire array photocathode structures for potential photomultiplier applications. The technique employed is to electroplate Sb into a porous Al2O3 matrix of nanochannels.The Al2O3 matrix is partially removed exposing a uniform ordered array of Sb nanowires that are exposed to cesium to form Cs3Sb. As a result of the reduced dimensionality of the nanostructures, the proposed nanowire photocathode has an increased surface area, a tunable refractive index, and a decreased electron affinity. These qualities result in enhanced quantum efficiency over conventional architectures. This research seeks to develop components for miniature high-speed photomultipliers that have applications in optical communications, medical imaging, night vision systems, robotic and machine vision systems, mass spectroscopy, missile defense systems, and basic scientific research.