A small-area high-T c superconducting bolometer with Y-Ba-Cu-O thin film

A small-area high-Tc superconducting bolometer with a dense YBCO meander wire on a (100) Zr(Y)O2 substrate has been tested at λ=1.5 μm using a diode laser as the radiation source. The infrared power absorbed by the bolometer was calibrated using a dc infrared substitution method. Responsivities of hundreds of V/W with a millisecond response time were obtained at a temperature of 86.5 K in the modulation frequency range of 10–3000 Hz. A minimum noise equivalent power of 6×10−11 W/Hz1/2 was measured at 1000 Hz. The experimental results are compared with those obtained from a thermal analysis of the substrate-supported microbolometer. No nonbolometric effect was distinguished.