2007/10/29 by Jian Wei, David Olaya, D. Olaya +6 · 2 citations
Engineering · Physics and Astronomy · #Bolometer #Condensed matter physics #Detector #Electron #Materials science #Nuclear physics #Optics #Optoelectronics #Phonon #Photon #Physics #Physics of Superconductivity and Magnetism #Superconducting and THz Device Technology #Superconductivity #Terahertz radiation #Thermal Radiation and Cooling Technologies #astro-ph #cond-mat.mes-hall #cond-mat.other
paper · pdf · doi:10.1038/nnano.2008.173
published as Nature Nanotechnology 3, 496-500 (2008) · 19 pages, 3 color figures
arxiv created 2007/10/29 · openalex publication_date 2008/07/06 · arxiv updated 2013/03/06 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/08/05
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.