Design and simulation of an antenna-coupled TES bolometer

Abstract

We present a new design of an antenna-coupled superconducting transition-edge sensor (TES) bolometer. The incident radiation is coupled to a membrane-based twin-slot antenna and then transmitted through lossless microstrip lines to lossy meander-like microstrip lines in which a NbSi film is located between strip and dielectric layer. The NbSi film serves as both power absorber and temperature sensor (thermometer). With the help of the electromagnetic simulation software High Frequency Structure Simulator (HFSS), we have studied the performance of the twin-slot antenna. The simulation results for radiation pattern and return loss show promising prospects for this TES bolometer design. The power absorption in NbSi film is another important aspect which will be modeled in the future.