%0 Journal Article
%T Ultra-sensitive hot-electron nanobolometers for terahertz astrophysics
%A Jian Wei
%A David Olaya
%A Boris Karasik
%A Sergey Pereverzev
%A Andrei Sergeev
%A Michael Gershenson
%J ArXiv e-prints
%D 2007
%V 710
%F JianWei_etal2007
%O arXiv:0710.5474v1; 19 pages, 3 color figures
%O exported from refbase (https://db.rplab.ru/refbase/show.php?record=407), last updated on Mon, 22 Dec 2008 20:40:10 -0600
%X The background-limited spectral imaging of the early Universe requires spaceborne terahertz (THz) detectors with the sensitivity 2-3 orders of magnitude better than that of the state-of-the-art bolometers. To realize this sensitivity without sacrificing operating speed, novel detector designs should combine an ultrasmall heat capacity of a sensor with its unique thermal isolation. Quantum effects in thermal transport at nanoscale put strong limitations on the further improvement of traditional membrane-supported bolometers. Here we demonstrate an innovative approach by developing superconducting hot-electron nanobolometers in which the electrons are cooled only due to a weak electron-phonon interaction. At T<0.1K, the electron-phonon thermal conductance in these nanodevices becomes less than one percent of the quantum of thermal conductance. The hot-electron nanobolometers, sufficiently sensitive for registering single THz photons, are very promising for submillimeter astronomy and other applications based on quantum calorimetry and photon counting.
%K cond-mat.other
%K astro-ph
%K cond-mat.mes-hall
%U http://arxiv.org/abs/0710.5474v1