The series of projects described in this dissertation was stimulated by the discovery of high temperature superconductivity. Our goal was to develop useful applications which would be competitive with the current state of technology. The high-{Tc} microbolometer was developed into the most sensitive direct detector of millimeter waves, when operated at liquid nitrogen temperatures. The thermal boundary resistance of thin YBa{sub 2}Cu{sub 3}0{sub 7-{delta}} films was subsequently measured and provided direct evidence for the bolometric response of high-{Tc} films to fast (ns) laser pulses. The low-{Tc} microbolometer was developed and used to make the first direct measurements of the frequency …
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Lawrence Berkeley Lab., CA (United States)
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The series of projects described in this dissertation was stimulated by the discovery of high temperature superconductivity. Our goal was to develop useful applications which would be competitive with the current state of technology. The high-{Tc} microbolometer was developed into the most sensitive direct detector of millimeter waves, when operated at liquid nitrogen temperatures. The thermal boundary resistance of thin YBa{sub 2}Cu{sub 3}0{sub 7-{delta}} films was subsequently measured and provided direct evidence for the bolometric response of high-{Tc} films to fast (ns) laser pulses. The low-{Tc} microbolometer was developed and used to make the first direct measurements of the frequency dependent optical efficiency of planar lithographed antennas. The hot-electron microbolometer was invented less than a year prior to the writing of this dissertation. Our analysis, presented here, indicates that it should be possible to attain up to two orders of magnitude higher sensitivity than that of the best available direct detectors when operated at the same temperature. The temperature readout scheme for this device could also be used to measure the intrinsic interaction between electrons and phonons in a metal with a sensitivity that is five orders of magnitude better than in previous measurements. Preliminary measurements of quasiparticle trapping effects at the interface between a metal and a superconductor are also presented.
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Nahum, M.Superconducting submillimeter and millimeter wave detectors,
thesis or dissertation,
October 20, 1992;
California.
(https://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc1311365/:
accessed July 16, 2024),
University of North Texas Libraries, UNT Digital Library, https://digital.library.unt.edu;
crediting UNT Libraries Government Documents Department.