The South Pole Telescope SZ-Receiver Detectors

• Published in: IEEE transactions on applied superconductivity Vol. 19; no. 3; pp. 517 - 519
• Main Authors: Shirokoff, E., Benson, B.A., Bleem, L.E., Chang, C.L., Hsiao-Mei Cho, Crites, A.T., Dobbs, M.A., Holzapfel, W.L., Lanting, T., Lee, A.T., Lueker, M., Mehl, J., Plagge, T., Spieler, H.G., Vieira, J.D.
• Format: Journal Article Conference Proceeding
• Language: English
• Published: New York, NY IEEE 01-06-2009; Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers; The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, Inc. (IEEE)
• Subjects: Applied sciences; Arrays; Bolometer; infrared, submillimeter wave, microwave and radiowave receivers and detectors; Bolometers; Clusters; Cosmic microwave background; Detectors; Electrical engineering. Electrical power engineering; Electromagnetic scattering; Electromagnets; Electronics; Exact sciences and technology; Fabrication; Focal plane; Galaxies; General equipment and techniques; Infrared, submillimeter wave, microwave and radiowave instruments, equipment and techniques; Instruments, apparatus, components and techniques common to several branches of physics and astronomy; Microwave antenna arrays; Optical design; Physics; Plasma temperature; Refrigeration; Refrigerators; Semiconductor electronics. Microelectronics. Optoelectronics. Solid state devices; Sensors (chemical, optical, electrical, movement, gas, etc.); remote sensing; South Pole; Superconducting devices; Telescopes; Testing; transition edge sensors; Various equipment and components; Plasma; Telescope; Focal plane; Bolometers; Closed cycle; Adhesive joint; Bolometer; Multistage circuit; Wafer; superconducting devices; Transition temperature; Absorbent material; Measurement sensor; Thermal behavior; Receiver; Refrigerator; Household electrical appliances; Superconductor device; transition edge sensors; Thermal properties; Sorption; Back surface; Readout systems; Sensor array; Bilayers
• ISSN: 1051-8223; 1558-2515
• DOI: 10.1109/TASC.2009.2018229

We will discuss the design, fabrication, and testing of a 960-element TES array installed on the new 10 meter South Pole Telescope (SPT). This array is designed to survey for galaxy clusters using the Sunyaev-Zel'dovich (SZ) effect, which is the inverse-Compton scattering of Cosmic Microwave Background photons by plasma bound to clusters of galaxies. The SPT bolometer array consists of fully lithographed spider-web absorbers fabricated on adhesive-bonded silicon wafers with an embedded metal back plane. The absorbers are connected to aluminum-titanium bilayer TESs with a transition temperature of approximately 550 mK. Additional normal-metal features adjust the devices' thermal properties to suit our readout system and observational strategy. The focal plane is cooled using a commercial, closed cycle, pulse-tube refrigerator and a three-stage helium sorption refrigerator with a 250 mK base temperature.