A cryogenic thermal source for detector array characterization

Date

2017-10-16

Department

Program

Citation of Original Publication

David T. Chuss, Karwan Rostem, Edward J. Wollack, Leah Berman, Felipe Colazo, Martin DeGeorge, Kyle Helson, and Marco Sagliocca. "A cryogenic thermal source for detector array characterization". Review of Scientific Instruments 88, 104501 (16 October 2017); https://doi.org/10.1063/1.4996751.

Rights

This work was written as part of one of the author's official duties as an Employee of the United States Government and is therefore a work of the United States Government. In accordance with 17 U.S.C. 105, no copyright protection is available for such works under U.S. Law.
Public Domain Mark 1.0

Subjects

Abstract

We describe the design, fabrication, and validation of a cryogenically compatible quasioptical thermal source for characterization of detector arrays. The source is constructed using a graphite-loaded epoxy mixture that is molded into a tiled pyramidal structure. The mold is fabricated using a hardened steel template produced via a wire electron discharge machining process. The absorptive mixture is bonded to a copper backplate enabling thermalization of the entire structure and measurement of the source temperature. Measurements indicate that the reflectance of the source is <0.001 across a spectral band extending from 75 to 330 GHz.