Responsivity Calibration of Terahertz Pyroelectric Detector Based on Blackbody Radiator

Abstract

Optical input power calculation is critical in the performance evaluation of any kind of photodetector, including bolometers. By using a reference detector, the optical power from a light source can be determined based on the calibrated responsivity. We present the responsivity calibration of a reference pyroelectric detector based on the radiation from a blackbody source. The detector is operated in the infrared wavelength region and calibration is performed by using three different types of filter to evaluate the responsivity in the terahertz region. We consider the effect of the transmittance of the filters, atmospheric attenuation of the propagation medium, and optical characteristics of the parabolic mirror to accurately calculated the incident power from the blackbody source.