ECCN 6A002

NSMTCCRSATUN

Optical sensors and equipment, and components therefor, as follows .

Category: 6 - Sensors & LasersProduct Group: A - EquipmentLast Updated: 2026-04-10

What This ECCN Covers

ECCN 6A002 controls optical sensors and components — space-qualified and other solid-state detectors, infrared focal plane arrays, image-intensifier (night-vision) tubes, and certain cameras and monochromators that meet specified wavelength and performance thresholds. These sensing technologies underpin night vision, missile seekers, and reconnaissance, which is why the entry carries an unusually broad set of reasons including National Security, Missile Technology, Crime Control, Regional Stability, Anti-Terrorism, and United Nations.

Who needs to check this?

Manufacturers of infrared detectors, focal plane arrays, night-vision tubes, thermal imagers, and the cameras or systems that incorporate them.

Compliance tip

6A002 is heavily sub-divided by wavelength band and array characteristics, so small parameter differences change the classification. The Missile Technology and Crime Control reasons sharply limit license-exception availability and add destination restrictions — treat night-vision and IR-detector exports as license-required pending a sub-paragraph-level review.

Reviewed by Jack Tan · Last reviewed: Jun 4, 2026

Items Covered

  • a.Optical detectors as follows:
  • 1. "Space-qualified" solid-state detectors as follows:
  • 1.a. "Space-qualified" solid-state detectors having all of the following:
  • 1.a.1. A peak response in the wavelength range exceeding 10 nm but not exceeding 300 nm; and
  • 1.a.2. A response of less than 0.1% relative to the peak response at a wavelength exceeding 400 nm;
  • 1.b. "Space-qualified" solid-state detectors having all of the following:
  • 1.b.1. A peak response in the wavelength range exceeding 900 nm but not exceeding 1,200 nm; and
  • 1.b.2. A response "time constant" of 95 ns or less;
  • 1.c. "Space-qualified" solid-state detectors having a peak response in the wavelength range exceeding 1,200 nm but not exceeding 30,000 nm;
  • 1.d. "Space-qualified" "focal plane arrays" having more than 2,048 elements per array and having a peak response in the wavelength range exceeding 300 nm but not exceeding 900 nm;
  • 2. Image intensifier tubes and specially designed "components" therefor, as follows:
  • a.A single metal anode; or
  • b.Metal anodes with a center to center spacing greater than 500 µm.
  • 2.a. Image intensifier tubes having all of the following:
  • 2.a.1. A peak response in the wavelength range exceeding 400 nm but not exceeding 1,050 nm;
  • 2.a.2. Electron image amplification using any of the following:
  • 2.a.2.a. A microchannel plate with a hole pitch (center-to-center spacing) of 12 µm or less; or
  • 2.a.2.b. An electron sensing device with a non-binned pixel pitch of 500 µm or less, specially designed or modified to achieve 'charge multiplication' other than by a microchannel plate; and
  • 2.a.3. Any of the following photocathodes:
  • 2.a.3.a. Multialkali photocathodes (e.g., S-20 and S-5) having a luminous sensitivity exceeding 350 µA/lm;
  • 2.a.3.b. GaAs or GaInAs photocathodes; or
  • 2.a.3.c. Other "III-V compound" semiconductor photocathodes having a maximum "radiant sensitivity" exceeding 10 mA/W;
  • 2.b. Image intensifier tubes having all of the following:
  • 2.b.1. A peak response in the wavelength range exceeding 1,050 nm but not exceeding 1,800 nm;
  • 2.b.2. Electron image amplification using any of the following:
  • 2.b.2.a. A microchannel plate with a hole pitch (center-to-center spacing) of 12 µm or less; or
  • 2.b.2.b. An electron sensing device with a non-binned pixel pitch of 500 µm or less, specially designed or modified to achieve 'charge multiplication' other than by a microchannel plate; and
  • 2.b.3. "III/V compound" semiconductor (e.g., GaAs or GaInAs) photocathodes and transferred electron photocathodes, having a maximum "radiant sensitivity" exceeding 15 mA/W;
  • 2.c. specially designed "components" as follows:
  • 2.c.1. Microchannel plates having a hole pitch (center-to-center spacing) of 12 µm or less;
  • 2.c.2. An electron sensing device with a non-binned pixel pitch of 500 µm or less, specially designed or modified to achieve 'charge multiplication' other than by a microchannel plate;
  • 2.c.3. "III-V compound" semiconductor (e.g., GaAs or GaInAs) photocathodes and transferred electron photocathodes;
  • a.10 mA/W or less at the peak response in the wavelength range exceeding 400 nm but not exceeding 1,050 nm; or
  • b.15 mA/W or less at the peak response in the wavelength range exceeding 1,050 nm but not exceeding 1,800 nm.
  • 3. Non-"space-qualified" "focal plane arrays" as follows:
  • n.B.:
  • 3. Non-"space-qualified" "focal plane arrays" as follows:
  • a.Multi-element (not to exceed 16 elements) encapsulated photoconductive cells using either lead sulphide or lead selenide;
  • b.Pyroelectric detectors using any of the following:
  • 1. Triglycine sulphate and variants;
  • 2. Lead-lanthanum-zirconium titanate and variants;
  • 3. Lithium tantalate;
  • 4. Polyvinylidene fluoride and variants; or
  • 5. Strontium barium niobate and variants.
  • c."Focal plane arrays" specially designed or modified to achieve 'charge multiplication' and limited by design to have a maximum "radiant sensitivity" of 10 mA/W or less for wavelengths exceeding 760 nm, having all of the following:
  • 1. Incorporating a response limiting mechanism designed not to be removed or modified; and
  • 2. Any of the following:
  • 2.a. The response limiting mechanism is integral to or combined with the detector element; or
  • 2.b. The "focal plane array" is only operable with the response limiting mechanism in place.
  • d.Thermopile arrays having less than 5,130 elements;
  • 3.a. Non-"space-qualified" "focal plane arrays" having all of the following:
  • 3.a.1. Individual elements with a peak response within the wavelength range exceeding 900 nm but not exceeding 1,050 nm; and
  • 3.a.2. Any of the following:
  • 3.a.2.a. A response "time constant" of less than 0.5 ns; or
  • 3.a.2.b. specially designed or modified to achieve 'charge multiplication' and having a maximum "radiant sensitivity" exceeding 10 mA/W;
  • 3.b. Non-"space-qualified" "focal plane arrays" having all of the following:
  • 3.b.1. Individual elements with a peak response in the wavelength range exceeding 1,050 nm but not exceeding 1,200 nm; and
  • 3.b.2. Any of the following:
  • 3.b.2.a. A response "time constant" of 95 ns or less; or
  • 3.b.2.b. specially designed or modified to achieve 'charge multiplication' and having a maximum "radiant sensitivity" exceeding 10 mA/W;
  • 3.c. Non-"space-qualified" non-linear (2-dimensional) "focal plane arrays" having individual elements with a peak response in the wavelength range exceeding 1,200 nm but not exceeding 30,000 nm;
  • 3.d. Non-"space-qualified" linear (1-dimensional) "focal plane arrays" having all of the following:
  • 3.d.1. Individual elements with a peak response in the wavelength range exceeding 1,200 nm but not exceeding 3,000 nm; and
  • 3.d.2. Any of the following:
  • 3.d.2.a. A ratio of 'scan direction' dimension of the detector element to the 'cross-scan direction' dimension of the detector element of less than 3.8; or
  • 3.d.2.b. Signal processing in the detector elements;
  • 3.e. Non-"space-qualified" linear (1-dimensional) "focal plane arrays" having individual elements with a peak response in the wavelength range exceeding 3,000 nm but not exceeding 30,000 nm;
  • 3.f. Non-"space-qualified" non-linear (2-dimensional) infrared "focal plane arrays" based on 'microbolometer' material having individual elements with an unfiltered response in the wavelength range equal to or exceeding 8,000 nm but not exceeding 14,000 nm;
  • 3.g. Non-"space-qualified" "focal plane arrays" having all of the following:
  • 3.g.1. Individual detector elements with a peak response in the wavelength range exceeding 400 nm but not exceeding 900 nm;
  • 3.g.2. specially designed or modified to achieve 'charge multiplication' and having a maximum "radiant sensitivity" exceeding 10 mA/W for wavelengths exceeding 760 nm; and
  • 3.g.3. Greater than 32 elements;
  • b."Monospectral imaging sensors" and "multispectral imaging sensors", designed for remote sensing applications and having any of the following:
  • 1. An Instantaneous-Field-Of-View (IFOV) of less than 200 µrad (microradians); or
  • 2. Specified for operation in the wavelength range exceeding 400 nm but not exceeding 30,000 nm and having all the following:
  • 2.a. Providing output imaging data in digital format; and
  • 2.b. Having any of the following characteristics:
  • 2.b.1. "Space-qualified"; or
  • 2.b.2. Designed for airborne operation, using other than silicon detectors, and having an IFOV of less than 2.5 mrad (milliradians);
  • a.Charge Coupled Devices (CCD) not designed or modified to achieve 'charge multiplication'; or
  • b.Complementary Metal Oxide Semiconductor (CMOS) devices not designed or modified to achieve 'charge multiplication'.
  • c.'Direct view' imaging equipment incorporating any of the following:
  • 1. Image intensifier tubes having the characteristics listed in 6A002.a.2.a or 6A002.a.2.b;
  • 2. "Focal plane arrays" having the characteristics listed in 6A002.a.3; or
  • 3. Solid state detectors specified by 6A002.a.1;
  • a.Industrial or civilian intrusion alarm, traffic or industrial movement control or counting systems;
  • b.Medical equipment;
  • c.Industrial equipment used for inspection, sorting or analysis of the properties of materials;
  • d.Flame detectors for industrial furnaces;
  • e.Equipment specially designed for laboratory use.
  • d.Special support "components" for optical sensors, as follows:
  • 1. "Space-qualified" cryocoolers;
  • 2. Non-"space-qualified" cryocoolers having a cooling source temperature below 218 K (−55 °C), as follows:
  • 2.a. Closed cycle type with a specified Mean-Time-To-Failure (MTTF) or Mean-Time-Between-Failures (MTBF), exceeding 2,500 hours;
  • 2.b. Joule-Thomson (JT) self-regulating minicoolers having bore (outside) diameters of less than 8 mm;
  • 3. Optical sensing fibers specially fabricated either compositionally or structurally, or modified by coating, to be acoustically, thermally, inertially, electromagnetically or nuclear radiation sensitive.
  • f.'Read-Out Integrated Circuits' ('ROIC') specially designed for "focal plane arrays" specified by 6A002.a.3.

1 item reserved by BIS (not shown)

Control Reasons

NSNational Security

Items controlled for national security reasons under multilateral export control regimes.

Column 1: YesColumn 2: No
MTMissile Technology

Items controlled under the Missile Technology Control Regime (MTCR).

Column 1: YesColumn 2: No
CCCrime Control

Items controlled for crime control and detection purposes.

Column 1: YesColumn 2: No
RSRegional Stability

Items controlled for regional stability reasons.

Column 1: YesColumn 2: No
ATAnti-Terrorism

Items controlled for anti-terrorism reasons. Most items on the CCL have AT controls.

Column 1: YesColumn 2: No
UNUnited Nations

Items controlled pursuant to United Nations Security Council mandates.

Column 1: YesColumn 2: No

Disclaimer

This information is for reference only. For official classifications, consult BIS or a qualified export control professional.

Official Reference