The terahertz frequency region of the electromagnetic spectrum is crucial for understanding the formation and evolution of galaxies and stars throughout the universe's history, as well as the process of planet formation. Detecting the unique spectral signatures of molecules and atoms requires terahertz spectrometers, which must be operated in space observatories due to water vapor absorption in the Earth's atmosphere. However, current terahertz spectrometers face challenges such as low resolution, limited bandwidth, large volume, and complexity. In this paper, the issues of size and weight are addressed by demonstrating a concept for a centimeter-sized, low-weight terahertz spectrometer using a metasurface. The design of the metasurface spectrometer is first discussed for the 1.85 to 2.4 THz range, followed by its fabrication. Next, an array of quantum cascade lasers operating at slightly different frequencies around 2.1 THz is utilized to characterize the spectrometer. Finally, a spectrum inversion method is applied to analyze the measured data, confirming a resolution R (λ/Δλ) of at least 273. This concept can be extended to other application areas, such as planetary observations and various wavelengths in the far-infrared (FIR) and near-infrared (NIR) ranges.

Large arrays of transition edge sensors (TESs) are the baseline for a number of future space observatories. For instance, the X-ray integral field unit (X-IFU) instrument on board the ATHENA space telescope will consist of ∼ 3000 TESs with high energy resolution (2eV at X-ray energies up to 7 keV). In this contribution we report on the development of an X-ray TES array as a backup detector technology for X-IFU. The baseline readout technology for this mission is time domain multiplexing where the detectors are DC biased. Specifically, we report on the characterization of four different Ti/Au TESs with the following dimensions (L × W): 30 × 15 , 30 × 30 , 50 × 25 and 50×50μm2, all of which are coupled to a 2.3μm thick Au absorber of area 240×240μm2. We have performed our characterization using our standard frequency domain multiplexing readout connecting only pixels at low frequencies, where nonlinear effects due to the AC biasing are negligible. Promising energy resolution has been obtained, for instance 1.78±0.10eV and 1.75±0.10eV at 5.9 keV for the 50 × 25 and 50×50μm2 detectors respectively. Uniformity over a kilo-pixel array (of detectors with the same geometry) has been also studied, confirming the high quality of our fabrication process.

Transition-edge sensors (TESs) are the selected technology for future spaceborne x-ray observatories, such as Athena, Lynx, and HUBS. These missions demand thousands of pixels to be operated simultaneously with high energy-resolving power. To reach these demanding requirements, every aspect of the TES design has to be optimized. Here we present the experimental results of tests on different devices where the coupling between the x-ray absorber and the TES is varied. In particular, we look at the effects of the diameter of the coupling stems and the distance between the stems and the TES bilayer. Based on measurements of the ac complex impedance and noise, we observe a reduction in the excess noise as the spacing between the absorber stem and the bilayer is decreased. We identify the origin of this excess noise to be internal thermal fluctuation noise between the absorber stem and the bilayer. In addition, we see an impact of the coupling on the superconducting transition in the appearance of kinks. Our observations show that these unwanted structures in the transition shape can be avoided with careful design of the coupling geometry. The stem diameter appears to have a significant effect on the smoothness of the TES transition. This observation is still poorly understood, but is of great importance for both ac and dc biased TESs.

We demonstrate multiplexing readout of 60 transition edge sensor (TES) bolometers operating at 90 mK using a frequency division multiplexing readout chain with bias frequencies ranging from 1 to 3.5 MHz and with a typical frequency spacing of 32 kHz. The readout chain starts with a two-stage SQUID amplifier and has a noise level of 9.5 pA/ Hz. We compare current-voltage curves and noise spectra of TESs measured in a single-pixel mode and in a multiplexing mode. We also map the noise equivalent power (NEP) and the saturation power of the bolometers in both modes, where there are 43 pixels that do not show more than 10% difference in NEP and 5% in saturation power when measured in single pixel and multiplex modes. We have read out a TES with an NEP of 0.45 aW/ Hz in the multiplexing-mode, which demonstrates the capability of reading out ultra-low noise TES bolometer arrays for space applications.

In the frequency-domain multiplexing (FDM) scheme, transition-edge sensors (TESs) are individually coupled to superconducting LC filters and AC biased at MHz frequencies through a common readout line. To make efficient use of the available readout bandwidth and to minimize the effect of non-linearities, the LC resonators are usually designed to be on a regular grid. The lithographic processes, however, pose a limit on the accuracy of the effective filter resonance frequencies. Off-resonance bias carriers could be used to suppress the impact of intermodulation distortions, which, nonetheless, would significantly affect the effective bias circuit and the detector spectral performance. In this paper, we present a frequency shift algorithm (FSA) to allow off-resonance readout of TESs, while preserving the on-resonance bias circuit and spectral performance, demonstrating its application to the FDM readout of an x-ray TES microcalorimeter array. We discuss the benefits in terms of mitigation of the impact of intermodulation distortions at the cost of increased bias voltage and the scalability of the algorithm to multi-pixel FDM readout. We show that with FSA, in the multi-pixel and frequencies shifted on-grid, the line noises due to intermodulation distortion are placed away from the sensitive region in the TES response and the x-ray performance is consistent with the single-pixel, on-resonance level.

Transition-edge sensors (TESs) are used as very sensitive thermometers in microcalorimeters aimed at detection of different wavelengths. In particular, for soft X-ray astrophysics, science goals require very high-resolution microcalorimeters which can be achieved with TESs coupled to suitable absorbers. For many applications, there is also need for a high number of pixels which typically requires multiplexing in the readout stage. Frequency-domain multiplexing (FDM) is a common scheme and is the baseline proposed for the ATHENA mission. FDM requires biasing the TES in AC at MHz frequencies. Recently, there has been reported degradation in performances under AC with respect to DC bias. In order to assess the performances of TESs to be used with FDM, it is thus of great interest to compare the performances of the same device both under AC bias and DC bias. This requires two different measurement set-ups with different processes for making the characterization. We report in this work the preliminary results of a single-pixel characterization performed on a TiAu TES under AC and afterwards under DC bias in different facilities. Extraction of dynamical parameters and noise performances are compared in both cases as a first stage for further AC/DC comparison of these devices.

We present a terahertz spatial filter consisting of two back-to-back (B2B) mounted elliptical silicon lenses and an opening aperture defined on a thin gold layer between the lenses. The beam filtering efficiency of the B2B lens system is investigated by simulation and experiment. Using a unidirectional antenna coupled 3rd-order distributed feedback (DFB) quantum cascade laser (QCL) at 3.86 THz as the source, the B2B lens system shows 72% transmissivity experimentally with a fundamental Gaussian mode as the input, in reasonably good agreement with the simulated value of 80%. With a proper aperture size, the B2B lens system is capable of filtering the non-Gaussian beam from the QCL to a nearly fundamental Gaussian beam, where Gaussicity increases from 74% to 99%, and achieves a transmissivity larger than 30%. Thus, this approach is proven to be an effective beam shaping technique for QCLs, making them to be suitable local oscillators in the terahertz range with a Gaussian beam. Besides, the B2B lens system is applicable to a wide frequency range if the wavelength dependent part is properly scaled.