Some properties of a room temperature THz detection array

Abstract

Detection peculiarities of an un-cooled (room temperature) 8x8 pixel array designed to image broadband THz radiation were investigated. Each pixel consists of a thin conductive film absorber on a dielectric membrane with thermopile temperature readout. It was designed and tested for four combinations of two different types of absorber and thermopile materials. The photo-response profile, determined by scanning the pixels through the focus of a THz laser beam, was wider than expected from a 2-D convolution of the Gaussian beam and the absorber surface. Also the time response did depend on the position of the beam relative to the pixel. Simulations show that those properties are due to the fact that also the thermopiles absorb THz radiation. For the best composition of absorber and thermopile, the responsivity, the noise equivalent power, and the bandwidth were estimated to be of 28 V/W, 5x10-9 W/Hz1/2 and 50 Hz, respectively.