We are developing a new type of detector for observational cosmology and astrophysical research. Incoming radiation from the sky is coupled to a superconducting microstrip transmission line that terminates in a thin film absorber. At sub-Kelvin temperature, the thermal isolation between the electrons and the lattice makes it possible for the electrons in the small absorber (100's of cubic micro-meter) and superconducting bilayer (Transition Edge Sensor) to heat up by the radiation absorbed by the electrons of the normal absorbing layer. We call this detector a Transition-edge Hot-electron Micro-bolometer (THM). THMs can be fabricated by photo lithography, so it is relatively easy to make matched detectors for a large focal plane array telescope. We report on the thermal properties of Mo/Au THMs with Bi/Au absorbers.

Date Published: 8 October 2004
PDF: 9 pages
Proc. SPIE 5498, Millimeter and Submillimeter Detectors for Astronomy II, (8 October 2004); doi: 10.1117/12.552836

Published in SPIE Proceedings Vol. 5498:
Millimeter and Submillimeter Detectors for Astronomy II
Jonas Zmuidzinas; Wayne S. Holland; Stafford Withington, Editor(s)