Design and fabrication of a two-dimensional superconducting bolometer array for SAFIRE

Dominic J. Benford; George M. Voellmer; James A. Chervenak; Kent D. Irwin; S. Harvey Moseley; Richard A. Shafer; Johannes G. Staguhn

doi:10.1117/12.458816

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3 March 2003 Design and fabrication of a 2D superconducting bolometer array for SAFIRE

Dominic J. Benford, George M. Voellmer, James A. Chervenak, Kent D. Irwin, S. Harvey Moseley, Richard A. Shafer, Johannes G. Staguhn

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Proceedings Volume 4857, Airborne Telescope Systems II; (2003) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.458816
Event: Astronomical Telescopes and Instrumentation, 2002, Waikoloa, Hawai'i, United States

Abstract

The Submillimeter and Far-InfraRed Experiment (SAFIRE) on the SOFIA airborne observatory will employ a large-format, two-dimensional, close-packed bolometer array. SAFIRE is an imaging Fabry-Perot spectrometer operating at wavelengths between 100μm and 700μm. The array format is 16×32 pixels, using a 32-element multiplexer developed in part for this instrument. The low backgrounds achieved in spectroscopy require very sensitive detectors with NEPs of order 10^-19 W/√Hz. An architecture which permits 512 pixels to be placed adjacent to each other in an area the size of a postage stamp, integrate them with multiplexers, and provide all the necessary wiring interconnections is a complex proposition, but can be achieved. Superconducting detectors can be close-packed using the Pop-Up Detector (PUD) format, and SQUID multiplexers operating at the detector base temperature can be intimately coupled to them. The result is a compact array, easily scalable to kilopixel arrays. We describe the PUD architecture, superconducting transition edge sensor bolometers we have manufactured and tested using the PUD architecture, and the electronics of SQUID multiplexed readouts. We show the design and assembly of the mechanical model of a 512-element bolometer array.

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Dominic J. Benford, George M. Voellmer, James A. Chervenak, Kent D. Irwin, S. Harvey Moseley, Richard A. Shafer, and Johannes G. Staguhn "Design and fabrication of a 2D superconducting bolometer array for SAFIRE", Proc. SPIE 4857, Airborne Telescope Systems II, (3 March 2003); https://doi.org/10.1117/12.458816

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