Metallic bolometers with temperature dependent thermal impedance

The paper gives the solution of a bolometer with thermal impedance, which is a general function of the temperature. The general solution is applied to a bolometer cooled by radiation for which the appropriate expressions fo the resistance, sensitivity and dynamic resistance are derived and the expression for the maximum sensitivity of this type of bolometers from nickel, platinum and electrolytical platinum is given. The case of a bolometer cooled by conduction through the air and radiation is solved as the case of a bolometer with several ways of cooling. The paper also gives a graphico-numerical method for determining all the important parameters of the bolometer from the measured dependence of the resistance on the electric power RI²; an example of the application of this method is given for a conduction and radiation cooled bolometer. Deviations from the theoretical course are explained by convection of heat caused by the flow of air along the bolometer due to the increase in temperature of the bolometer over that of its surroundings. The paper also gives the maximum attainable sensitivity of this type of bolometer and metallic bolometers in general.     

软X射线测量用电阻式薄膜量热计

介绍了一种用于软X射线辐射能量测量的电阻式薄膜量热计。利用电流的欧姆热效应对薄膜量热计的灵敏度进行了标定。在有基底薄膜的标定过程中,采用一维热扩散模型,考虑了金属薄膜向基底的传导热损失。利用电阻式薄膜量热计对聚龙一号装置钨丝阵Z箍缩产生的软X射线进行了测量,并与平响应X射线二极管(XRD)探测器的测量结果进行了比较。实验结果表明,电阻式薄膜量热计测量的软X射线辐射能量和辐射功率与平响应XRD探测器结果在测量不确定度范围内合理地一致。     

Thermal Modelling and Characterisation of Semiconductor Bolometers

A revised version of the Griffin & Holland ideal semiconductor bolometer model is presented and its use in determining bolometer properties and parameters from experimental load curve measurements is discussed. We show that degeneracy between some bolometer parameters can only be broken by model fitting a family of load curves over a range of bath temperatures, and that measurements with the bolometer blanked (zero absorbed radiant power) are essential for unambiguous determination of the main parameters. The influence of measurement errors on parameter recovery is analysed using synthetic noisy data sets.     

Numerical optimization of bolometric infrared detectors including optical loading, amplifier noise, and electrical nonlinearities

We present numerical methods for the optimization of bolometric infrared detectors which use current-biased semiconducting thermistors. We extend the analysis of Griffin and Holland to explicitly include both the electric field dependence of the thermistor resistance and amplifier noise. These methods allow the user to design and evaluate an optimized bolometer once such parameters as the optical loading, the heat sink temperature, and the materials for the thermal link and the thermistor have been chosen. Measured parameters which describe the electrical nonlinearities in neutron transmutation doped germanium are presented. The consequences for bolometer optimization of including these effects are illustrated. This program will be made available at the web site http://physics7.berkeley.edu/bolometer.html. This work was supported in part by the Director, Office of Energy Research, Office of Basic Energy Sciences, Materials Sciences Division of the U. S. Department of Energy under contract DE-AC03-76SF00098.     

THz/sub-THz bolometer based on electron heating in a semiconductor waveguide

Direct detection THz/sub-THz bolometer is proposed. In it an electromagnetic wave propagates in the bipolar semiconductor waveguide, heats electrons and holes there, and therefore creates their bipolar thermodiffusion flow and, as well as, the electromotive force (emf). The flow causes the carrier excess concentration. Both this concentration and emf are used to get the bolometer response voltage. The bolometer theoretical model is developed. The possibility without cooling or moderate cooling (about 100 K for the Cd_0.2Hg_0.8Te bolometers) to get acceptable for applications values of the noise equivalent power is shown. Experimental results confirm the main model conclusions.     

Scattering of thermal phonon pulses by isotopes in silicon

The pure ballistic propagation of acoustic phonons in crystals at low temperatures can be described within anisotropic continuum acoustics. One needs only the elastic constants and mass densities to calculate the time-dependent spectral phonon irradition of the bolometer for a given radiator pulse power and detector/radiator geometry. We extend this treatment by including single isotope-scattering events for the phonons in a (111)-cut silicon disk on their flight from the radiator to the detector. Using the earlier experimentally determined polarization and frequency dependent phonon absorption in the bolometer metal, the instantaneous temperature of the bolometer can be calculated from this irradiation. This allows a direct comparison with measured bolometer temperatures using exactly the same transmission or reflection arrangement as in calculation. A very satisfying agreement is observed in the expected range of single phonon scattering.     

利用薄膜量热计测量高功率Z箍缩软X射线总能量

 介绍一种采用脉冲恒压电源驱动的镍薄膜量热计，研制了测量系统和镍薄膜探测器，对探测器的电阻 温度特性进行了实验标定，该量热计已成功应用于测量“强光一号”加速器高功率Z箍缩等离子体软X射线总能量，分析了测量不确定度。     

Propagation of heat pulses in single-crystalline sapphire

We have studied heat-pulse propagation in single-crystalline sapphire using granular aluminum films for the heater and for the superconducting bolometer. The specimen surface carrying the bolometer was in direct contact with the liquid helium bath kept in the temperature range between 2.04 and 2.08 K. By varying the power during the heat pulse in the range between l mW and 2.8 W, we have observed the transition from purely ballistic pulse propagation at low power to diffusive propagation at higher power of the heat pulse. In the diffusive regime the phonon mean-free pathl has been experimentally determined and, using the Stefan-Boltzmann law, the variation ofl with the dominant phonon frequency has been found.     

辐射量热计在HT-6BTokamak上的测量

一、引言 在现行的托卡马克实验中,辐射损失和中性粒子损失是高温等离子体能量损失的主要通道之一。为了更好地了解托卡马克等离子体中能量平衡、辐射损失以及这些损失随等离子体参数的变化;了解等离子体中杂质含量和杂质输运以及等离子体与器壁的相互作用,辐射能量损失的时间特性、空间分布的测量显得很有必要。为     

Z箍缩软X射线辐射能量薄膜量热计改进技术

薄膜量热计是进行Z箍缩辐射总能量测量的主要手段之一,准确可信的总能量参数对Z箍缩研究具有重要意义。对薄膜量热计装置进行技术改进,采用脉冲恒流源代替脉冲恒压源驱动镍薄膜量热计,撤除了回路中的串接电阻,可直接测量薄膜探测器的电阻变化,从而有效提高了辐射总能量测量的精度,拓宽了该设备的适用范围,使其可对目前强光一号加速器Z箍缩实验中所有典型负载进行测量。改进后平面型铝丝阵负载实验中总能量测量的相对不确定度由49.0%降低为19.6%。与闪烁探测系统功率测量结果积分值进行了对比,二者比值在0.87~1.04之间。     

The theory of metallic bolometers

In the paper all the important parameters of metallic bolometers are derived on the assumption that cooling only takes place by conduction through the gas surrounding the bolometer and these parameters are described by means of dimensionless relative quantities independent of the dimensions of the bolometer. Universally valid diagrams are given for the dimensionless parameters of metallic bolometers from which the properties of an arbitrary metal bolometer can be determined in a simple way. A general expression is derived for the relative sensitivity of the bolometer containing only the temperature coefficient and the temperature increase of the bolometer above its surroundings.     

High Precision Characterisation of Semiconductor Bolometers

We describe techniques for testing and characterising semiconductor bolometers, using the bolometer model presented in Sudiwala et. al. [1]. The procedures are illustrated with results from a prototype bolometer for the high frequency instrument (HFI) in the Planck Surveyor cosmic microwave background mission. This is a bolometer using spider-web geometry and a neutron transmutation doped (NTD) germanium thermistor, designed for operation at 100 mK. Details are given of the laboratory facility used to take data at temperatures from 70 mK to 350 mK. This employs an adiabatic demagnetisation refrigerator to cool the detector and optics. The spatial and spectral properties of the optical system are controlled using feedhorns and edge filters. To characterise the bolometer, blanked and optically loaded load curves were measured over a range of temperatures, and the response to modulated radiation was measured as a function of modulation frequency, temperature and bias current. Results for the prototype bolometer show that its behaviour is well represented by an ideal thermal detector down to a temperature of approximately 100 mK. Below this, non-thermal effects such as electron-phonon decoupling or electric field dependent resistance appear to lead to departure from ideal behaviour. The performance was in good agreement with the design goals for the bolometer.     

Large area bolometers for millimeter-wave power calibration

An accurate monolithic power meter has been developed for millimeter-wave applications. The detector is a large-area Bismuth bolometer, integrated on a fused-Quartz substrate. It simply measures the temperature change caused by the absorption of millimeter-wave radiation. The power meter is simple to fabricate, inexpensive, and can be easily calibrated using a low-frequency network. The measured responsivity for a 50 bolometer, with an area of 1×1cm, at a bias of 1V. and a video modulation of 100Hz, is 1mV/W. The noise spectrum exhibits a 1/f rolloff till 1KHz, and is limited by the Johnson noise for higher frequencies. The NEP of the detector is 3WHz^–1/2 at a video modulation of 1KHz. It is possible to decrease the current NEP by fabricating bolometers with higher responsivities. Possible application areas are absolute power calibration and localized power density measurements at millimeter and submillimeter wavelengths.     

Nickel bolometers

A modified method of the production of nickel bolometers and their properties are described. A typical example is a bolometer of dimensions 005×2 mm and resistance 14.9 , the NEP (noise equivalent power) of which is 6.23×10^–11 Wc^–1/2 in air and 1.9×10^–11 Wc^–1/2 in vacuo. The paper also describes the influence of cooling the surroundings with liquid nitrogen on the properties of the bolometer. The NEP of a bolometer that works in vacuo with cooled surroundings is 5 times lower. A method is given for correcting the characteristics of two similar bolometers for use in a d.c. bridge which makes the equilibrium of the bridge independent of bridge-current fluctuations in a large range of current.     

Terahertz spectroscopy with a Josephson oscillator and a SINIS bolometer

The voltage response of a thin-film normal-metal hot-electron bolometer based on a SINIS (superconductor-insulator-normal metal-insulator-superconductor) structure to the radiation of a high-temperature Josephson junction in the terahertz frequency region was measured. Bolometers were integrated with planar log-periodic and double-dipole antennas, and Josephson junctions were integrated with log-periodic antennas. Measurements showed that the Josephson junction at a temperature of 260 mK was overheated by the transport current, so that its electron temperature exceeded 3 K at a bias voltage of 1 mV. The maximum response of a bolometer with a double-dipole antenna was observed at a frequency of 300 GHz, which agreed well with the calculated value. The Josephson radiation was observed at frequencies up to 1.7 THz. The voltage response of a bolometer reached 4×10⁸ V/W, and the total noise-equivalent power reached 1.5×10^?17 W/Hz^1/2.     

Concept of a mixer based on a cold-electron bolometer

A phase-sensitive terahertz heterodyne mixer of a new type based on a cold-electron bolometer is proposed. In this mixer, a normal-metal thin-film absorber is connected to a planar antenna via superconductor-insulator-normal metal (SIN) tunnel junctions, thus forming a SINIS structure. The SINIS mixer combines the advantages of a hot-electron bolometer (HEB), such as a high signal frequency at a small local oscillator power, with the advantages of an SIS mixer, including low noise level, a high intermediate frequency, and wide working temperature range (up to a critical temperature of the superconductor). In contrast to the HEB and SIS mixers, the proposed device is less sensitive to external magnetic noise and exhibits no additional noise related to the superconducting transition and the Josephson effect.     

Seven matched bolometers for millimeter wave observations

We have fabricated a millimeter wave observation system using an array of bolometric detectors. The performance of the system depends largely on obtaining identical performance from each bolometer. We achieved a variance in the responsivity of less than 4% except for one of the seven elements. The bolometers had an electrical NEP of 1.3×10^–16 W/Hz under radiation background loading of 30pW. We used an AC bridge readout circuit to significantly improve the stability of the array and showed that observations can be done without a mechanical beam switch. The bolometer array is now in use on the Nobeyama 45-m telescope for 150GHz observations.H. Matsuo thanks those who helped him work on bolometers during his stay in Berkeley, especially to T. Wilbanks, M. Devlin and C. Inman. The authors are also grateful to S. Sato and T. Watabe at Nagoya University for their advice on the AC bridge circuit. This work is partly supported by the Shimazdu Science Foundation.     

Resonance method for IR sensing

A highly sensitive method for infrared radiation detection based on thermal resonance in an active bolometer is set forth. An active bolometer is a self-oscillating system consisting of an IR-sensitive cell in a feedback circuit of an adjustable proportional controller. The analysis of an active bolometer autonomous (dark) dynamics reveals that with a generalized gain factor A variation the system evolves from relaxation type towards oscillating and self-oscillating type. When A=A_c, where A_c is a critical value of the generalized gain factor A, the steady state loses stability through self-excited thermal oscillations. The resonance in a system weakly perturbed by IR radiation modulated at self-oscillation frequency q₀[1+exp(iω_ct)] is considered. It is shown that in a small precritical vicinity =(A−A_c)/A_c of the gain factor the amplitude of forced thermal oscillations is proportional to q₀/A_c. The D^* calculation reveals that the detection power of a passive (A=0) bolometer increases with feedback introduction by a factor of 1/||. The detection powers of feasible versions of an active bolometer are compared.     

Compact 1.9 THz BWO local-oscillator for the GREAT heterodyne receiver

The 1.9 THz local-oscillator (LO) of the GREAT heterodyne receiver is presented. The LO is based on a frequency tripled backward-wave oscillator source. The frequency stabilization system is described and an astigmatic imaging system, developed for improved beam coupling, is presented. Allan variances and temperature dependent power drifts are analyzed. The LO is designed as a stand-alone system and fits into GREAT’s local-oscillator compartments. It produces more than 1.5 μW of stable output power to pump the hot electron bolometer mixers of the GREAT instrument.     

Metallic bolometers in periodically interrupted radiation

A theory of metallic bolometers is given for the case that the measured radiation is periodically interrupted. The impedance of a bolometer through which a direct and an alternating current simultaneously flow, is derived generally. Separate solutions are given for bolometers cooled by heat conduction and bolometers with thermal impedance dependent on the temperature. Expressions are derived for the sensitivity and minimum measurable power and the conditions for the choice of a coupling transformer with optimum ratio. In conclusion the lowest value of the minimum power at all measurable by metallic bolometers working in interrupted radiation is determined.Delivered in an abbreviated form. at the congress of the Physics Society of the German Democratic Republic in Leipzig, April 11, 1957.