A FULLERENE BASED HIGH RESPONSIVITY, LOW NOISE SUPERCONDUCTING BOLOMETER

THE RECENT AVAILABILITY OF THE CARBON ICOSOHEDRAL MOLECULES, THE FULLERENES, AND THE DISCOVERY OF SUPERCONDUCTIVITY IN ALKALI DOPED FULLERENE DERIVATIVES OPENS NEW AVENUES OF INVESTIGATION INTO SUPERCONDUCTING DEVICES. IN PARTICULAR, THE FULLERIDES ARE PREDICTED TO ACHIEVE HIGH PERFORMANCE AS SUPERCONDUCTING BOLOMETERS. MOST OF THE CURRENT SUPERCONDUCTING INFRARED SENSORS HAVE UTILIZED BOLOMETRIC MECHANISMS, INCLUDING MOST OF THOSE DEVELOPED RECENTLY FROM THE HIGH-TC CERAMICS. THE BOLOMETRIC MECHANISMS ARE WELL UNDERSTOOD, AND A SIMPLE THERMAL MODEL ADEQUATELY PREDICTS THE BOLOMETRIC BEHAVIOR. USING THAT MODEL, THE FULLERENE BASED SUPERCONDUCTORS ARE PREDICTED TO ACHIEVE A ONE-TO-TWO ORDER OF MAGNITUDE IMPROVEMENT IN RESPONSIVITY (CHANGE OF SIGNAL FOR A GIVEN CHANGE IN POWER) IN COMPARISON TO THE SUPERCONDUCTING CERAMICS. ADDITIONALLY, THE SAME INTRINSIC PHYSICAL PROPERTIES OF THE FULLERENES PREDICT A REDUCTION OF THE NOISE-EQUIVALENT-POWER (NEP) BY AN ORDER OF MAGNITUDE AS WELL. THE COMBINATION OF BENEFITS CAN YIELD A THREE ORDER OF MAGNITUDE IMPROVEMENT IN THE SPECIFIC DETECTIVITY, D(*). RESEARCHERS ARE TESTING THE IR RESPONSIVITY OF FULLERIDE FILMS USING ENVIRONMENTALLY PROTECTING TEST CELLS IN PREPARATION FOR COMMERCIAL DEVICES AND ARRAYS.