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Development

of an Ideal Integrating Bolometer for Far-Infrared


Spectroscopy
Mason Mok, University of Wisconsin-Madison Department of Mechanical Engineering
Dr. Ed Canavan, Code 552: Cryogenic and Fluid Systems, NASA Goddard Space Flight Center

Background
Standard Bolometer

An optical absorber is thermally linked to a low-temperature heat sink (T<<1K)


through a small thermal conductance, G
The temperature rise of the bolometer due to incident photons is measured using
power-dissipative thermometry
For state-of-the-art thermometry, resolution is limited by phonon noise, ( ).
Thus, highest resolution is achieved by making G as small as possible

However, recovery time of the bolometer,


&
Therefore, G cannot be made too small: The absorber cannot recover from cosmic
ray hits, which blind the detectors

Methods

Results

Why Cryogenics?

Electrical Resistance Switching at Different Temperatures

Materials behave very differently at low temperatures


Exploiting these differences is extremely advantageous for precision science
At low temperature materials have extremely low heat capacity thus their
temperatures can be changed easily by incoming photons
Infrared radiation is emitted by cool bodies; to measure weal infrared sources, the
instrument, including all optical surfaces and the detector, must be much colder
than the source
Use of low-temperature amplifiers, such as SQUIDs, allow great reduction in noise

Electrical resistance measurements were made on replica heat switch and successful
switching was demonstrated
Resistance as a function of drive coil current at different temperatures is shown
below
Greater electrical resistance Greater thermal conductance

Cooling to Sub-Kelvin Temperatures

Adiabatic Demagnetization Refrigerators (ADRs) are the only devices for cooling
below 1 K in micro-gravity environments.
Demagnetizing the field applied to a paramagnetic salt causes the salt to cool due to
the magnetocaloric effect

Sharp onset of
electrical resistance at
critical current
Electrical resistance measurements showing switching at critical current

Thermal Conductance Switching at Different Temperatures

Diagram of a standard Bolometer vs. an Ideal Integrating Bolometer

Ideal Integrating Bolometer (IIB)

An IIB uses a superconducting heat switch to control the conductance between the
absorber and low-temperature heat sink

'(( '*
G is no longer limited and switch can be closed periodically to dump heat
Temperature of absorber is measured using a non-dissipative thermometer such as
a magnetic penetration depth thermometer
For very small G,
t 1
t Poptical

T =

C (P
0

optical

G (T THS )) dt

Schematic of an ADR cooling cycle

dt

IIB Chip Details

Can measure temperature change at beginning and end of cycle and


determine deposited energy

Experimental data showing conductance of heat switch matches model well

Superconducting Heat Switch

In metals, valence electrons carry heat


In superconductors below the transition temperature, Tc, electrons are bound in
Cooper pairs:

Electrons can carry charge but not heat


At T << Tc almost no un-paired electrons and heat is only carried by phonons
Applying a magnetic field greater than the critical field 0H breaks the pairs and
metals return to normal state

Conductance ratio of ~105 for pure aluminum at 0.1 K


First demonstration of a pixel scale superconducting heat switch

LabVIEW Programming

100

Detail view of island (106 x 106 m)

Basic geometry of device

Johnson noise thermometer coupled to Superconducting Quantum Interference


Device (SQUID) (low noise amplifier)
The electrical noise generated by the thermal agitation of electrons is
measured and converted to a temperature using the Nyquist Formula.
Gold region thermally connects island to heat switch
Applying current through Niobium drive coil induces magnetic field which causes
aluminum to return to its normal state

Detail of superconducting heat switch and drive coil

Iteratively changing heater and drive coil


power inputs by remotely communicating
with source meters through LabVIEW
Automating entire testing process which
previously involved manually controlling
all parameters, such as heater power
levels
Communicating with ADR controller to
change temperature set points and
pausing tests to wait for temperature to
come to steady state
Plotting data in real-time for instant data
analysis
Reduced data acquisition time from days
to hours
Sample of LabVIEW program which plots data in real-time

10
0

10

15
20
25
30
Applied Drive Current [mA]

35

40

Conductance in Normal
and
Superconducting
states match model well
Gradual
increase
in
conductance seen; not
sharp switch to high
conductance state
This phenomenon is due
to superconductivity in
thin films

Recent data showing gradual increase in conductance

According to
Huebener et al.
(1972) regions of thin
film superconductors
go normal with
increasing magnetic
field
Images of superconducting Indium under increasing magnetic field
(dark areas are superconducting)

My Contribution
Cryostat Re-work

In the third week of my internship an electrical ground spike caused the bolometer
chip to fail
Downtime during installation of new chip allowed for cryostat fixes and
improvements
The following fixes or improvements were made:
Replaced cryocooler with electrically isolated pulsetube crycooler
Electrically isolating cryostat from cryocooler compressor protects against
ground spikes
Replacing the cryocooler required adding adapters to cryostat and
machining previous components
Isolated cryocooler required stand for remote valves and inertance tanks
Thermal straps were re-annealed to improve thermal conductance
4 aluminum thermal joints were replaced with copper
Diode circuits were installed on heater and drive coil circuits to protect against
power surges from source meters
Overall, improvements caused:
Greater cooling power
Better conductance across most thermal joints
Reduced cool-down time
Peace-of-mind

Programed LabVIEW virtual instruments


which accomplish the following:

At base temperature of 0.2 K conductance measurements were taken while


increasing applied drive coil current
Heat Switch Conductance vs. Applied Current

Conductance of Aluminum in normal and superconducting states

Dashed lines show


conductance of Al strip
alone

Results match model


predictions of device
conductance
very
well
Compromises made
to simply fabrication
reduce switching ratio

Conductance [pW/K]

At base temperatures from 0.3-1.0 K measured temperature rise vs. heat applied
Applying current greater the critical current, Ic, puts switch in high conductance
state

Close-up of chip inside Niobium can

Close-up of ADR and Niobium can

Cryostat with constructed stand

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