NbN Vacuum Bridge Bolometer Arrays With Room Temperature Readout Approaching Photon Noise Limited THz Imaging Applications

Helistö, Panu; Penttilä, Jari; Sipola, Hannu; Grönberg, Leif; Maibaum, F.; Luukanen, Arttu; Seppä, Heikki

doi:10.1109/tasc.2007.898648

Cited by 8 publications

(7 citation statements)

References 6 publications

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“…A TES with suitable Tc and a slope on R-T curve could be fabricated, for example, from a 10-nm-thin niobium film with reduced critical temperature due to the intrinsic proximity effect [27]. Alternatively, the required parameters can be achieved for antenna-coupled suspended superconducting nano-bolometers which already demonstrated sufficient sensitivity [28]. In this case, large membranes are not required and fabrication process is less complex.…”

Section: A Tes Optimizationmentioning

confidence: 99%

Terahertz Transition-Edge Sensor With Kinetic-Inductance Amplifier at 4.2 K

Kuzmin

Doerner

Charaev

et al. 2018

IEEE Trans. THz Sci. Technol.

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Different terrestrial terahertz applications would benefit from large-format arrays, operating in compact and inexpensive cryocoolers at liquid helium temperature with sensitivity, limited by the 300-K background radiation only. A voltage-biased Transition-Edge Sensor (TES) as a THz detector can have sufficient sensitivity and has a number of advantages important for real applications as linearity of response, high dynamic range and a simple calibration, however it requires a low-noise current readout. Usually, a current amplifier based on Superconducting Quantum-Interference Device (SQUID) is used for readout, but the scalability of this approach is limited due to complexity of the operation and fabrication. Recently, it has been shown that instead of SQUID it is possible to use a current sensor, which is based on the nonlinearity of the kinetic inductance of a current-carrying superconducting stripe. Embedding the stripe into a microwave high-Q superconducting resonator allows for reaching sufficient current sensitivity. More important, it is possible with the resonator approach to scale up to large arrays using Frequency-Division Multiplexing (FDM) in GHz range. Here, we demonstrate the operation of a voltagebiased TES with a microwave kinetic-inductance current amplifier at 4.2 K. We measured the expected intrinsic Noise-Equivalent Power NEP ~ 5×10 -14 W/Hz 1/2 and confirmed that a sufficient sensitivity of the readout can be reached in conjunction with a real TES operation. The construction of an array with the improved sensitivity ~ 10 -15 W/Hz 1/2 at 4.2 K could be realized using a combination of the new current amplifier and already existing TES detectors with improved thermal isolation. I. INTRODUCTIONLARGE-format arrays of THz detectors are required today in different terrestrial applications. Among them is THz passive security scanning for concealed hazardous objects, THz imaging for non-destructive testing (NDT) in production lines and imaging far-infrared Fourier-Transform Spectroscopy for material research and atmospheric studies [1][2][3][4][5].Along with the large number of detectors in an array, these applications would benefit from the high sensitivity. The background-limited Noise-Equivalent Power (NEP) is of high importance for passive scanning applications with a stand-off

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Section: A Tes Optimizationmentioning

confidence: 99%

Terahertz Transition-Edge Sensor With Kinetic-Inductance Amplifier at 4.2 K

Kuzmin

Doerner

Charaev

et al. 2018

IEEE Trans. THz Sci. Technol.

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“…The employment of SQUIDs can be considered detrimental as it adds complexity to TES-based measurement systems and therefore may hinder a wider use of TESs. There have been suggestions to avoid SQUIDs for TES-readout [3][4][5][6]. Feasible readout of a TES embedded in a resistor-inductorcapacitor resonant circuit and read out with a semiconductorbased amplifier, as discussed in [4], requires TES ac-bias, sufficiently low-loss reactive components and has yet to be demonstrated.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Transition edge sensor series array bolometer

Beyer¹

2010

Supercond. Sci. Technol.

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A transition edge sensor series array (TES-SA) is an array of identical TESs that are connected in series by low-inductance superconducting wiring. The array elements are equally and well thermally coupled to the absorber and respond to changes in the absorber temperature in synchronization. The TES-SA total resistance increases compared to a single TES while the shape of the superconducting transition is preserved. We are developing a TES-SA with a large number, hundreds to thousands, of array elements with the goal of enabling the readout of a TES-based bolometer operated at 4.2 K with a semiconductor-based amplifier located at room temperature. The noise and dynamic performance of a TES-SA bolometer based on a niobium/aluminum bilayer is analyzed. It is shown that stable readout of the bolometer with a low-noise transimpedance amplifier is feasible.

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“…Note that in the SRON/VTT FDM scheme [2], the SQUID plays no role in actual multiplexing but acts as a gain stage only. It is then conceivable that with detectors having sufficiently high noise temperature at their outputs, one can use a semiconductor amplifier directly as the gain stage, cryogenic or even room temperature [13,14].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Use of SiGe bipolar transistors for cryogenic readout of SQUIDs

Kiviranta

2006

Supercond. Sci. Technol.

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We have measured characteristics and noise of four commercially available SiGe heterojunction bipolar transistors at 4.2 K. One device exhibits 75 pV Hz −1/2 white noise and a 1/ f noise corner of 20 kHz at 9 mW power dissipation, proving suitable for readout of SQUIDs immersed in liquid He. Another device exhibits 370 pV Hz −1/2 white noise and a 1/ f noise corner of 5 kHz at 50 μW dissipation, and still gives useable gain at 7 μW dissipation. This device is useful for SQUID multiplexers intended for closed-cycle refrigerators, in which the cooling power is limited. The achievable dissipation is even compatible for operation in the low-temperature stages of dilution refrigerators or ADRs. Furthermore, SiGe-based dc SQUID readout with 0.35 μ 0 Hz −1/2 flux noise was demonstrated. Applying negative flux feedback yielded a slew rate exceeding 50 0 μs −1 .

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NbN Vacuum Bridge Bolometer Arrays With Room Temperature Readout Approaching Photon Noise Limited THz Imaging Applications

Cited by 8 publications

References 6 publications

Terahertz Transition-Edge Sensor With Kinetic-Inductance Amplifier at 4.2 K

Terahertz Transition-Edge Sensor With Kinetic-Inductance Amplifier at 4.2 K

Transition edge sensor series array bolometer

Use of SiGe bipolar transistors for cryogenic readout of SQUIDs

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