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Search indexed NASA NTRS and DOE OSTI research on propulsion, heat transfer, battery materials and energy systems. Follow report and document links to the original sources.

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At least 37 records · Page 2
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
NASA NTRS1995

High-Performance electronics at ultra-low power consumption for space applications: From superconductor to nanoscale semiconductor technology

A detailed review of Sandia's work in ultralow power dissipation electronics for space flight applications, including superconductive electronics, new advances in quantum well structures, and ultra-high purity 3-5 materials, and recent advances in micro-electro-optical-mechanical systems (MEMS) is presented. The superconductive electronics and micromechanical devices are well suited for application in micro-robotics, micro-rocket engines, and advanced sensors.

Duncan, Robert V.↗
NASA NTRS1993

Space applications of superconducting microwave electronics at NASA Lewis Research Center

Since the discovery of high temperature superconductivity in 1987, NASA Lewis Research Center has been involved in efforts to demonstrate its advantages for applications involving microwave electronics in space, especially space communications. The program included thin film fabrication by means of laser ablation. Specific circuitry which was investigated includes microstrip ring resonators at 32 GHz, phase shifters which utilize a superconducting, optically activated switch, an 8x8 32 GHz superconducting microstrip antenna array, and an HTS-ring-resonator stabilized oscillator at 8 GHz. The latter two components are candidates for use in space experiments which are described in other papers. Experimental data on most of the circuits are presented as well as, in some cases, a comparison of their performance with an identical circuit utilizing gold or copper metallization.

Leonard, R. F.↗
NASA NTRS2008

Electrical NEP in Hot-Electron Titanium Superconducting Bolometers

We are presenting the current progress on the titanium (Ti) hot-electron transition-edge devices. The ultimate goal of this work is to develop a submillimeter Hot-Electron Direct Detector (HEDD) with the noise equivalent power NEP = 10(sup -1) - 10(sup -20) W/Hz(sup 1/2) for the moderate resolution spectroscopy and Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB) studies on future space telescope (e.g., SPICA, SAFIR, SPECS, CMBPol) with cryogenically cooled (approximately 4-5 K) mirrors. Recently, we have achieved the extremely low thermal conductance (approximately 20 fW/K at 300 mK and approximately 0.1 fW/K at 40 mK) due to the electron-phonon decoupling in Ti nanodevices with niobium (Nb) Andreev contacts. This thermal conductance translates into the "phonon-noise" NEP approximately equal to 3 x 10(sup -21) W/Hz(sup 1/2) at 40 mK and NEP approximately equal to 3 x 10(sup -19) W/Hz(sup 1/2) at 300 mK. These record data indicate the great potential of the hot-electron detector for meeting many application needs. Beside the extremely low phonon-noise NEP, the nanobolometers have a very low electron heat capacitance that makes them promising as detectors of single THz photons. As the next step towards the practical demonstration of the HEDD, we fabricated and tested somewhat larger than in Ref.1 devices (approximately 6 micrometers x 0.35 micrometers x 40 nm) whose critical temperature is well reproduced in the range 300-350 mK. The output electrical noise measured in these devices with a low-noise dc SQUID is dominated by the thermal energy fluctuations (ETF) aka "phonon noise". This indicates the high electrothermal loop gain that effectively suppresses the contributions of the Johnson noise and the amplifier (SQUID) noise. The electrical NEP = 6.7 x 10(sup -18) W/Hz(sup 1/2) derived from these measurements is in good agreement with the predictions based on the thermal conductance data. The very low NEP and the high speed (approximately microns) are a unique combination not found in other detectors.

transition-edge sensor↗
NASA NTRS1991

Superconducting Microwave Electronics at Lewis Research Center

Over the last three years, NASA Lewis Research Center has investigated the application of newly discovered high temperature superconductors to microwave electronics. Using thin films of YBa2Cu3O7-delta and Tl2Ca2Ba2Cu3Ox deposited on a variety of substrates, including strontium titanate, lanthanum gallate, lanthanum aluminate and magnesium oxide, a number of microwave circuits have been fabricated and evaluated. These include a cavity resonator at 60 GHz, microstrip resonators at 35 GHz, a superconducting antenna array at 35 GHz, a dielectric resonator at 9 GHz, and a microstrip filter at 5 GHz. Performance of some of these circuits as well as suggestions for other applications are reported.

Warner, Joseph D.↗
NASA NTRS2014

Characterization of MgB2 Superconducting Hot Electron Bolometers

Hot-Electron Bolometer (HEB) mixers have proven to be the best tool for high-resolution spectroscopy at the Terahertz frequencies. However, the current state of the art NbN mixers suffer from a small intermediate frequency (IF) bandwidth as well as a low operating temperature. MgB2 is a promising material for HEB mixer technology in view of its high critical temperature and fast thermal relaxation allowing for a large IF bandwidth. In this work, we have fabricated and characterized thin-film (approximately 15 nanometers) MgB2-based spiral antenna-coupled HEB mixers on SiC substrate. We achieved the IF bandwidth greater than 8 gigahertz at 25 degrees Kelvin and the device noise temperature less than 4000 degrees Kelvin at 9 degrees Kelvin using a 600 gigahertz source. Using temperature dependencies of the radiation power dissipated in the device we have identified the optical loss in the integrated microantenna responsible as a cause of the limited sensitivity of the current mixer devices. From the analysis of the current-voltage (IV) characteristics, we have derived the effective thermal conductance of the mixer device and estimated the required local oscillator power in an optimized device to be approximately 1 microwatts.

Superconducting Devices↗
NASA NTRS2009

Superconducting Hot-Electron Submillimeter-Wave Detector

A superconducting hot-electron bolometer has been built and tested as a prototype of high-sensitivity, rapid-response detectors of submillimeter-wavelength radiation. There are diverse potential applications for such detectors, a few examples being submillimeter spectroscopy for scientific research; detection of leaking gases; detection of explosive, chemical, and biological weapons; and medical imaging. This detector is a superconducting-transition- edge device. Like other such devices, it includes a superconducting bridge that has a low heat capacity and is maintained at a critical temperature (T(sub c)) at the lower end of its superconducting-transition temperature range. Incident photons cause transient increases in electron temperature through the superconducting-transition range, thereby yielding measurable increases in electrical resistance. In this case, T(sub c) = 6 K, which is approximately the upper limit of the operating-temperature range of silicon-based bolometers heretofore used routinely in many laboratories. However, whereas the response speed of a typical silicon- based laboratory bolometer is characterized by a frequency of the order of a kilohertz, the response speed of the present device is much higher characterized by a frequency of the order of 100 MHz. For this or any bolometer, a useful figure of merit that one seeks to minimize is (NEP)(tau exp 1/2), where NEP denotes the noise-equivalent power (NEP) and the response time. This figure of merit depends primarily on the heat capacity and, for a given heat capacity, is approximately invariant. As a consequence of this approximate invariance, in designing a device having a given heat capacity to be more sensitive (to have lower NEP), one must accept longer response time (slower response) or, conversely, in designing it to respond faster, one must accept lower sensitivity. Hence, further, in order to increase both the speed of response and the sensitivity, one must make the device very small in order to make its heat capacity very small; this is the approach followed in developing the present device.

Karasik, Boris↗
NASA NTRS2006

An Ultrasensitive Hot-Electron Bolometer for Low-Background SMM Applications

We are developing a hot-electron superconducting transition-edge sensor (TES) that is capable of counting THz photons and operates at T = 0.3K. The main driver for this work is moderate resolution spectroscopy (R approx. 1000) on the future space telescopes with cryogenically cooled (approx. 4 K) mirrors. The detectors for these telescopes must be background-limited with a noise equivalent power (NEP) approx. 10(exp -19)-10(exp -20) W/Hz(sup 1/2) over the range v = 0.3-10 THz. Above about 1 THz, the background photon arrival rate is expected to be approx. 10-100/s), and photon counting detectors may be preferable to an integrating type. We fabricated superconducting Ti nanosensors with a volume of approx. 3x10(exp -3) cubic microns on planar substrate and have measured the thermal conductance G to the thermal bath. A very low G = 4x10(exp -14) W/K, measured at 0.3 K, is due to the weak electron-phonon coupling in the material and the thermal isolation provided by superconducting Nb contacts. This low G corresponds to NEP(0.3K) = 3x10(exp -19) W/Hz(sup 1/2). This Hot-Electron Direct Detector (HEDD) is expected to have a sufficient energy resolution for detecting individual photons with v > 0.3 THz at 0.3 K. With the sensor time constant of a few microseconds, the dynamic range is approx. 50 dB.

bolometers↗
NASA NTRS1985

Four K refrigerators with a new compact heat exchanger

Two refrigerators have been developed which have nominal cpacities of 0.25M and 0.5W at 4.2K. These use standard two stage Displex sup R expanders and compressors combined with a new compact heat exchanger which is concentric with the expander cylinder. These refrigerators can be used to cool superconducting electronic devices by direct attachment to the 4K heat station, or they can be plugged into the neck of a liquid helium superconducting magnet cryostat where they can cool the radiation shields and reliquefy helium.

Longsworth, R. C.↗
NASA NTRS2009

Magnetic-Field-Tunable Superconducting Rectifier

Superconducting electronic components have been developed that provide current rectification that is tunable by design and with an externally applied magnetic field to the circuit component. The superconducting material used in the device is relatively free of pinning sites with its critical current determined by a geometric energy barrier to vortex entry. The ability of the vortices to move freely inside the device means this innovation does not suffer from magnetic hysteresis effects changing the state of the superconductor. The invention requires a superconductor geometry with opposite edges along the direction of current flow. In order for the critical current asymmetry effect to occur, the device must have different vortex nucleation conditions at opposite edges. Alternative embodiments producing the necessary conditions include edges being held at different temperatures, at different local magnetic fields, with different current-injection geometries, and structural differences between opposite edges causing changes in the size of the geometric energy barrier. An edge fabricated with indentations of the order of the coherence length will significantly lower the geometric energy barrier to vortex entry, meaning vortex passage across the device at lower currents causing resistive dissipation. The existing prototype is a two-terminal device consisting of a thin-film su - perconducting strip operating at a temperature below its superconducting transition temperature (Tc). Opposite ends of the strip are connected to electrical leads made of a higher Tc superconductor. The thin-film lithographic process provides an easy means to alter edge-structures, current-injection geo - metries, and magnetic-field conditions at the edges. The edge-field conditions can be altered by using local field(s) generated from dedicated higher Tc leads or even using the device s own higher Tc superconducting leads.

Sadleir, John E.↗
NASA NTRS2006

Record Low NEP in the Hot-Electron Titanium Nanobolometers

We are developing hot-electron superconducting transition-edge sensors (TES) capable of counting THz photons and operating at T = 0.3K. We fabricated superconducting Ti nanosensors with Nb contacts with a volume of approx. 3x10(exp -3) cu microns on planar Si substrate and have measured the thermal conductance due to the weak electron-phonon coupling in the material G = 4x10(exp -14) W/K at 0.3 K. The corresponding phonon-noise NEP = 3x10(exp -19) W/Hz(sup 1/2). Detection of single optical photons (1550nm and 670nm wavelength) has been demonstrated for larger devices and yielded the thermal time constants of 30 microsec at 145 mK and of 25 microsec at 190 mK. This Hot-Electron Direct Detector (HEDD) is expected to have a sufficient energy resolution for detecting individual photons with (nu) > 1 THz where NEP approx. 3x10(exp -20) W/Hz(sup 1/2) is needed for spectroscopy in space.

transition edge sensors↗
NASA NTRS1990

RLE progress report no. 133, 1 January - 31 December 1990

Activities of the Research Laboratory of Electronics at MIT are summarized. NASA-sponsored research in the area of synthetic aperture radar image interpretation and simulation is described. Other government-sponsored and industry-sponsored studies are also described which address the following topics: microwave and millimeter wave integrated circuits, high-speed integrated circuit interconnects, Instrument Landing System/Microwave Landing System frequency management assessment, and superconducting electronics.

Allen, Jonathan↗
NASA NTRS2007

Kilopixel Pop-Up Bolometer Arrays for the Atacama Cosmology Telescope

The recently deployed Atacama Cosmology Telescope (ACT) anticipates first light on its kilopixel array of close-packed transition-edge-sensor bolometers in November of 2007. The instrument will represent a full implementation of the next-generation, large format arrays for millimeter wave astronomy that use superconducting electronics and detectors. Achieving the practical construction of such an array is a significant step toward producing advanced detector arrays for future SOFIA instruments. We review the design considerations for the detector array produced for the ACT instrument. The first light imager consists of 32 separately instrumented 32-channel pop-up bolometer arrays (to create a 32x32 filled array of mm-wave sensors). Each array is instrumented with a 32-channel bias resistor array, Nyquist filter array, and time-division SQUID multiplexer. Each component needed to be produced in relatively large quantities with suitable uniformity to meet tolerances for array operation. An optical design was chosen to maximize absorption at the focal plane while mitigating reflections and stray light. The pop-up geometry (previously implemented with semiconducting detectors and readout on the SHARC II and HAWC instruments) enabled straightforward interface of the superconducting bias and readout circuit with the 2D array of superconducting bolometers. The array construction program balanced fabrication challenges with assembly challenges to deliver the instrument in a timely fashion. We present some of the results of the array build and characterization of its performance.

Chervenak, J. A.↗