Stressed and unstressed Ge:Ga detector arrays for airborne astronomy

Journal Article · Sun Nov 01 00:00:00 EST 1992 · International Journal of Infrared and Millimeter Waves; (United States)

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01010739· OSTI ID:5578767

Stacey, G J ^[1]; Beeman, J W; Haller, E E ^[2]; Geis, N ^[3]; Poglitsch, A; Rumitz, M ^[4]

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1. Cornell Univ., Ithaca, NY (United States) Univ. of California, Berkeley, CA (United States)
2. Lawrence Berkeley Lab., CA (United States)
3. Univ. of California, Berkeley, CA (United States) Max-Planck Institut fuer Physik und Astrophysik, Garching (Germany)
4. Max-Planck Institut fuer Physik und Astrophysik, Garching (Germany)

We have constructed and used two dimensional arrays of both unstressed and stressed Ge:GA photoconductive detectors for far-infrared astronomy from the Kuiper Airborne Observatory (KAO). The 25 element (5 x 5) arrays are designed for a new cryogenically cooled spectrometer, the MPE/UCB Far-Infrared Imaging Fabry-Perot Interferometer (FIFI). All of the pixels for the stressed array performed well on the first flights with FIFI; 25% of the detectors in the array are more sensitive than our best single element detector, with background limited noise equivalent powers (NEPs) [approx lt] 3.0 [times] 10[sup [minus]15] W Hz[sup [minus]1/2] at 158 [mu]m and 40 km s[sup [minus]1] spectral resolution. The average array element performs within [plus minus] 15% of this value. With a bias field of 0.1 V/cm, the average detector response is 20 [plus minus] 6 Amp/Watt at 158 [mu]m. The cutoff wavelength and response also compare well with our single element detectors. The unstressed array delivers significantly better performance than our single element detector due to the lower thermal background in the new spectrometer. The average background limited NEP at 88 [mu]m and 35 km s[sup [minus]1] spectral resolution is approx. 7 [times] 10[sup [minus]15] W Hz[sup [minus]1/2]. 18 refs., 10 figs., 2 tabs.

• DOE Contract Number: AC03-76SF00098
• OSTI ID: 5578767
• Journal Information: International Journal of Infrared and Millimeter Waves; (United States), Vol. 13:11; ISSN 0195-9271
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE
71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS
GENERAL PHYSICS
GALLIUM
PHOTOCONDUCTIVITY
GERMANIUM
PHOTOCONDUCTORS
OPTICAL PROPERTIES
ASTRONOMY
DETECTION
FAR INFRARED RADIATION
INTERFEROMETERS
SPECTROMETERS
ELECTRIC CONDUCTIVITY
ELECTRICAL PROPERTIES
ELECTROMAGNETIC RADIATION
ELEMENTS
INFRARED RADIATION
MEASURING INSTRUMENTS
METALS
PHYSICAL PROPERTIES
RADIATIONS
360600* - Other Materials
661320 - Auroral
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