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AIP conference proceedings

New technologies for the detection of millimeter and submillimeter waves

P. L. Richards

Published Jan 1, 2002• 2 citations
Publisher

Abstract

Voltage-biased superconducting bolometers have many operational advantages over conventional bolometer technology including sensitivity, linearity, speed, and immunity from environmental disturbance.A review is given of the Berkeley program for developing this new technology.Developments include fully lithographed individual bolometers in the spiderweb configuration, arrays of 1024 close-packed absorber-coupled bolometers, antenna-coupled bolometers, and a frequency-domain SQUID readout multiplexer.

DOI
10.1063/1.1475640

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Voltage-biased superconducting bolometers have many operational advantages over conventional bolometer technology including sensitivity, linearity, speed, and immunity from environmental disturbance.A review is given of the Berkeley program for developing this new technology.Developments include fully lithographed individual bolometers in the spiderweb configuration, arrays of 1024 close-packed absorber-coupled bolometers, antenna-coupled bolometers, and a frequency-domain SQUID readout multiplexer.
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Cryogenically cooled superconducting detectors have become essential tools for a wide range of measurement applications, ranging from quantum limited heterodyne detection in the millimeter range to direct searches for dark matter with superconducting phonon detectors operating at 20 mK. Superconducting detectors have several fundamental and practical advantages which have resulted in their rapid adoption by experimenters. Their excellent performance arises in part from reductions in noise resulting from their low operating temperatures, but unique superconducting properties provide a wide range of mechanisms for detection. For example, the steep dependence of resistance with temperature on the superconductor/normal transition provides a sensitive thermometer for calorimetric and bolometric applications. Parametric changes in the properties of superconducting resonators provides a mechanism for high sensitivity detection of submillimeter photons. From a practical point of view, the use of superconducting detectors has grown rapidly because many of these devices couple well to SQUID amplifiers, which are easily integrated with the detectors. These SQUID-based amplifiers and multiplexers have matured with the detectors; they are convenient to use, and have excellent noise performance. The first generation of fully integrated large scale superconducting detection systems are now being deployed. I will discuss the prospects for a new generation of instruments designed to take full advantage of the revolution in detector technology.