We report on the status and development of polarization-sensitive detectors for millimeter-wave applications. The detectors are fabricated on single-crystal silicon, which functions as a low-loss dielectric substrate for the microwave circuitry as well as the supporting membrane for the Transition-Edge Sensor (TES) bolometers. The orthomode transducer (OMT) is realized as a symmetric structure and on-chip filters are employed to define the detection bandwidth. A hybridized integrated enclosure reduces the high-frequency THz mode set that can couple to the TES bolometers. An implementation of the detector architecture at Q-band achieves 90% efficiency in each polarization. The design is scalable in both frequency coverage, 30-300 GHz, and in number of detectors with uniform characteristics. Hence, the detectors are desirable for ground-based or space-borne instruments that require large arrays of efficient background-limited cryogenic detectors.

Date Published: 23 July 2014
PDF: 7 pages
Proc. SPIE 9153, Millimeter, Submillimeter, and Far-Infrared Detectors and Instrumentation for Astronomy VII, 91530B (23 July 2014); doi: 10.1117/12.2057266

Published in SPIE Proceedings Vol. 9153:
Millimeter, Submillimeter, and Far-Infrared Detectors and Instrumentation for Astronomy VII
Wayne S. Holland; Jonas Zmuidzinas, Editor(s)