A High Resolution High-Sensitivity Standoff Imaging System at 350 GHz

Published

May 23, 2011

Author(s)

Daniel T. Becker, Cale Gentry, James A. Beall, Hsiao-Mei Cho, William Duncan, Gene C. Hilton, Kent D. Irwin, Peter J. Lowell, Michael D. Niemack, Nicholas G. Paulter Jr., Carl D. Reintsema, Francis J. Schima, Robert E. Schwall, Peter Ade, Carole Tucker, Simon Dicker, Halpern Mark

Abstract

Millimeter wavelength radiation holds promise for detection of security threats at a distance, including suicide bomb belts and maritime threats in poor weather conditions. The sensitivity provided by superconducting Transition-Edge-Sensor (TES) bolometers makes them ideal for high sensitivity passive imaging of thermal signals at millimeter and sub-millimeter wavelengths. We are developing a 350 GHz video-rate imaging system using 800 TES bolometers as detectors. This demonstration system will image a 1 m $\times$ 1 m target at a distance of 16 m to a resolution of approximately 1 cm. The system will take video images with a noise-equivalent temperature difference of 100 mK at 10 frames per second. Light is captured by an f/2.0 Cassegrain optical system with 1.3 m primary mirror. The detectors are read out using a time-domain multiplexed SQUID readout system. We report on the current status of development of this system.

Proceedings Title

Millimeter Wave Days 2011

Conference Dates

May 23-25, 2011

Conference Location

Espoo

Pub Type

Conferences

Citation

Becker, D. , Gentry, C. , Beall, J. , Cho, H. , Duncan, W. , Hilton, G. , Irwin, K. , Lowell, P. , Niemack, M. , Paulter, N. , Reintsema, C. , Schima, F. , Schwall, R. , Ade, P. , Tucker, C. , Dicker, S. and Mark, H. (2011), A High Resolution High-Sensitivity Standoff Imaging System at 350 GHz, Millimeter Wave Days 2011, Espoo, -1 (Accessed April 25, 2024)