In this paper, the noise equivalent power (NEP) of an optical sensor based ongraphene-superconductor junctions in the constant current mode of operation has beencalculated. Furthermore, the necessary investigations to optimize the device noise withrespect to various parameters such as the operating temperature, magnetic field, deviceresistance, voltage and current bias have been presented. By s...

A wideband H-band detector operating near 300 GHz has been developed based on SiGe HBT technology. The detector consists of an on-chip antenna and a HBT differential pair for square-law detection. It showed responsivity of more than 1,700 V/W and noise equivalent power (NEP) smaller than 180 pW/Hz0.5 for the measured frequency range of 250–350 GHz. The maximum responsivity and the minimum NEP w...

Schottky barrier diodes can be used as direct detectors throughout the millimeterand submillimeterwave bands. When the diodes are optimized to have a low forward turn-on voltage, the detectors can achieve excellent frequency response and bandwidth, even with zero-bias. This paper reports on the characterization of VDI’s zerobias Schottky detectors. Responsivity typically ranges from 4,000 V/W a...

We present an overview of the recent progress made in the development of a far-IR array of ultrasensitive hot-electron nanobolometers (nano-HEB) made from thin titanium (Ti) films. We studied electrical noise, signal and noise bandwidth, single-photon detection, optical noise equivalent power (NEP), and a microwave SQUID (MSQUID) based frequency domain multiplexing (FDM) scheme. The obtained re...

We describe the properties of ultrasensitive graphene photon detectors for use in the far-infrared/terahertz spectral region and present theoretical predictions for their power detection sensitivity. These predictions are based on two graphene contacting schemes with superconducting contacts: contacts with a thin insulating barrier, and direct superconducting contacts. To quantitatively assess ...

We report experimental progress toward demonstrating background-limited arrays of membrane-isolated transition-edge sensors (TESs) for the Background Limited Infrared/Sub-mm Spectrograph (BLISS). BLISS is a space-borne instrument with grating spectrometers for wavelengths λ= 35-435μm and with R=λ/Δλ~500. The goals for BLISS TESs are: noise equivalent power (NEP) = 5×10 W/Hz and response time τ<...

In an infrared photodetector, noise current (dark current) is generated throughout the volume of detector. Reducing will reduce dark current, but corresponding smaller area also received signal. By using a separate antenna to receive light, one can detector without reducing signal, thereby increasing its signal ratio (SNR). Here, we present dielectric resonator (DRA) coupled photodetector. Its ...

In this work, a high temperature THz detector based on a GaN high electron mobility transistor (HEMT) with nano antenna structures was fabricated and demonstrated to be able to work up to 200 °C. The THz responsivity and noise equivalent power (NEP) of the device were characterized at 0.14 THz radiation over a wide temperature range from room temperature to 200 °C. A high responsivity Rv of 15....

In this paper we give a detailed analysis of the expected sensitivity and operating conditions in the power detection mode of a hot-electron bolometer (HEB) made from a few μm of monolayer graphene (MLG) flake which can be embedded into either a planar antenna or waveguide circuit via NbN (or NbTiN) superconducting contacts with critical temperature ~ 14 K. Recent data on the strength of the el...

Room temperature operating thermal detection for mid-infrared light based on ZnO subwavelength wires has been demonstrated. Electric resistance in ZnO wires increases linearly with the intensity of incident light. Noise equivalent power (NEP) of 5.8 microW/Hz(1/2) (at 1 kHz) with typical response times as fast as 1.3 ms is obtained at 10.6-microm wavelength. The sensitivity and response time of...