Bryan Linkous with John Ruhl

Thermo-electric Model of a Superconducting Bolometer

Bolometers have often been used as detectors of low energy radiation, but there has always been a choice to make between speed and sensitivity.  A new design of superconducting bolometers promises to deliver increases in both speed and sensitivity over the older, semiconductor designs. The superconducting bolometer consists of a voltage biased transition edge sensor mounted on a cold substrate.  Impinging microwave radiation heats the sensor, which in turn lowers the power (i.e. heat) output of the TES.  This strong electro-thermal feedback makes analytic analysis of such a system extremely difficult, if not impossible.  Thus, a computer model was seen as the best option for predicting the detector’s behavior.  Once the model is completed it will be used to investigate the likely noise properties and response of such a detector under conditions such as those used in the study of the CMB.