Design of a Transition-Edge Hot-Electron Microbolometer for Millimeter-Wave Astrophysical Observations

Author

Barrentine, Emily M. ; Ali, Shafinaz ; Allen, Christine A. ; Brown, Ari D. ; Cao, Nga T. ; Chervenak, James A. ; Denis, Kevin L. ; Hsieh, Wen-Ting ; Miller, Timothy M. ; Moseley, S. Harvey ; Stevenson, Thomas R. ; Timbie, Peter T. ; Travers, Douglas E. ;

Author_Institution

Univ. of Wisconsin, Madison, WI, USA

Volume

19

Issue

3

fYear

2009

fDate

6/1/2009 12:00:00 AM

Firstpage

528

Lastpage

531

Abstract

We are developing a Transition-edge Hot-electron Microbolometer (THM) with the capacity to make sensitive and broadband astrophysical observations over frequencies ranging from 30-300 GHz (10-1 mm). This micron-sized bolometer consists of a superconducting bilayer Transition-Edge Sensor (TES) and a thin-film absorber. The THM employs the decoupling between electrons and phonons at low temperatures (below 300 mK) to provide thermal isolation. The devices are fabricated photolithographically and read out with Superconducting Quantum Interference Devices (SQUIDs). We present the details of a thermal model for a THM detector and the design for new thermally optimized antenna-coupled THMs for illumination by a RF source at 40 and 100 GHz.

Keywords

SQUIDs; aerospace engineering; antennas; astronomical instruments; bolometers; millimetre waves; photolithography; thin film sensors; SQUID; Superconducting Quantum Interference Devices; TES; THM design; THM detector; Transition-edge Hot-electron Microbolometer; antenna; bilayer Transition-Edge Sensor; electrons; frequency 30 GHz to 300 GHz; millimeter-wave astrophysical observation; phonons; photolithography; thermal isolation; thermal model; thin-film absorber; Bolometers; hot-electron; millimeter wave detectors; superconducting sensors;

fLanguage

English

Journal_Title

Applied Superconductivity, IEEE Transactions on

Publisher

ieee

ISSN

1051-8223

Type

jour

DOI

10.1109/TASC.2009.2017956

Filename

5152996