Design and performance of feedhorn-coupled bolometer arrays for SPIRE

Brooks Rownd; James J. Bock; Goutam Chattopadhyay; Jason Glenn; Matthew J. Griffin

doi:10.1117/12.459372

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17 February 2003 Design and performance of feedhorn-coupled bolometer arrays for SPIRE

Brooks Rownd, James J. Bock, Goutam Chattopadhyay, Jason Glenn, Matthew J. Griffin

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Proceedings Volume 4855, Millimeter and Submillimeter Detectors for Astronomy; (2003) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.459372
Event: Astronomical Telescopes and Instrumentation, 2002, Waikoloa, Hawai'i, United States

Abstract

This paper reviews the design, modeling, and testing of feedhorn arrays coupled to bolometric detector arrays being developed for the ESA Herschel Space Observatory's SPIRE instrument. SPIRE will incorporate five arrays of silicon nitride micromesh bolometers, in three broadband photometers and two Fourier-Transform spectrometers covering 200-700 μm, with a total of 326 feedhorn-coupled bolometers. The precision feedhorn arrays are formed by close-packing individually fabricated conical feedhorns, which terminate in waveguides and integrating cavities. The detector array is efficiently packaged by mounting it between a metallized silicon backshort array and the feedhorn array, which encloses the bolometers in precisely tuned integrating cavities. The absorption efficiency, bandwidth, and cross talk were first investigated with numerical simulations of the electromagnetic fields, and then measured for prototype arrays in a test facility. This discussion describes the design goals, simulations, fabrication, and measurements of optical efficiencies, spectral properties, beam shapes, and cross talk between bolometers.

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Brooks Rownd, James J. Bock, Goutam Chattopadhyay, Jason Glenn, and Matthew J. Griffin "Design and performance of feedhorn-coupled bolometer arrays for SPIRE", Proc. SPIE 4855, Millimeter and Submillimeter Detectors for Astronomy, (17 February 2003); https://doi.org/10.1117/12.459372

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