Open Access. Powered by Scholars. Published by Universities.®

Physical Sciences and Mathematics Commons

Open Access. Powered by Scholars. Published by Universities.®

Articles 1 - 2 of 2

Full-Text Articles in Physical Sciences and Mathematics

Fabrication Of Robust Superconducting Granular Aluminium/Palladium Bilayer Microbolometers With Sub-Nanosecond Response, Thomas E. Wilson Dec 2007

Fabrication Of Robust Superconducting Granular Aluminium/Palladium Bilayer Microbolometers With Sub-Nanosecond Response, Thomas E. Wilson

Physics Faculty Research

We provide a convenient recipe for fabricating reliable superconducting microbolometers as acoustic phonon detectors with sub-nanosecond response, using imagereversal optical lithography and dc-magnetron sputtering, and our recipe requires no chemical or plasma etching. Our approach solves the traditional problem for granular aluminium bolometers of unreliable (i.e., non-Ohmic) electrical contacts by sequentially sputtering the granular aluminium film and then a palladium capping layer. We use dc calibration data, the method of Danilchenko et al. [1], and direct nanosecond-pulsed photoexcitation to obtain the microbolometer’s characteristic current, thermal conductance, characteristic relaxation time, and heat capacity. We also demonstrate the use of the deconvolution …


Quantum Analysis Of A Linear Dc Squid Mechanical Displacement Detector, M. P. Blencowe, E. Buks Jul 2007

Quantum Analysis Of A Linear Dc Squid Mechanical Displacement Detector, M. P. Blencowe, E. Buks

Dartmouth Scholarship

We provide a quantum analysis of a dc SQUID mechanical displacement detector within the subcritical Josephson current regime. A segment of the SQUID loop forms the mechanical resonator and motion of the latter is transduced inductively through changes in the flux threading the loop. Expressions are derived for the detector signal response and noise, which are used to evaluate the position and force detection sensitivity. We also investigate cooling of the mechanical resonator due to detector back reaction.