An x-ray bolometer for absolute measurement of broad-band soft x-ray fluence (10 eV < hν < 5 keV) from pulsed plasma sources is fabricated using an optical lithography technique. It is based on detecting the increase in resistance of a thin gold microstructure due to the temperature rise caused by absorption of x-ray energy in the absorber of the bolometer. The increase in the resistance is detected in a balanced bridge circuit and amplified by a low drift, high gain differential amplifier. The bolometer is calibrated for absolute sensitivity by comparing the signal of XUV pin diodes of known standard response detecting soft x-rays from a laser produced plasma. The response of the bolometer is measured to be ∼1.12 ± 0.05 mV mJ−1, with a heating time constant of 0.68 ms and a cooling time constant of 6 s. These values are found to be in good agreement with those derived using a simple analogy of charging of a capacitor by a pulsed signal. The details of bolometer design, fabrication and its characterization using x-rays (hν > 0.8 keV) from a copper plasma are presented.
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