INFRARED/MILLIMETER WAVE DETECTORS USING HIGH TEMPERATURE SUPERCONDUCTORS

THIS PROPOSAL IS CONCERNED WITH THE DEVELOPMENT OF AN INFRARED/MILLIMETER WAVE DETECTOR USING THE BULK, NON-LINEAR CURRENT-VOLTAGE CHARACTERISTICS OF HIGH TEMPERATURE SUPERCONDUCTING THIN FILMS. SUCH DEVICES, WHICH ARE INFLUENCED BY INTERGRAIN WEAK LINKS, CAN CONVERT (RECTIFY), AND THEREFORE DETECT, HIGH FREQUENCY ELECTROMAGNETIC SIGNALS. THIS NON-BOLOMETRIC, BUT EXTREMELY BROADBAND RESPONSE, IS A FUNCTION OF TEMPERATURE AND BIAS CURRENT. THE EFFECT OF THE MORPHOLOGY OF THE FILM IS A FACTOR WHICH IS TO BE DETERMINED. ALSO, PARAMETERS SUCH AS SPECTRAL RESPONSE, DETECTIVITY AND NOISE EQUIVALENT POWER WILL BE ESTABLISHED SO AS TO CHARACTERIZE THE DEVICE. THE PRINCIPAL OBJECTIVE OF THIS WORK IS THE DEVELOPMENT OF A SENSITIVE BROADBAND, YET INEXPENSIVE, DETECTOR WHICH CAN BE USED AS A REPLACEMENT FOR NARROW BAND JUNCTION OR BARRIER-TYPE DEVICES.