The Spectral and Photometric Imaging REceiver (SPIRE), is the Herschel Space Observatory`s submillimetre camera and spectrometer It contains a three-band imaging photometer operating at 250, 350 and 500 mu m, and an imaging Fourier-transform spectrometer (FTS) which covers simultaneously its whole operating range of 194-671 mu m (447-1550 GHz) The SPIRE detectors are arrays of feedhorn-coupled bolometers cooled to 03 K The photometer has a field of view of 4' x 8', observed simultaneously in the three spectral bands Its main operating mode is scan-mapping, whereby the field of view is scanned across the sky to achieve full spatial sampling and to cover large areas if desired The spectrometer has an approximately circular field of view with a diameter of 26' The spectral resolution can be adjusted between 12 and 25 GHz by changing the stroke length of the FTS scan mirror Its main operating mode involves a fixed telescope pointing with multiple scans of the FTS mirror to acquire spectral data For extended source measurements, multiple position offsets are implemented by means of an internal beam steering mirror to achieve the desired spatial sampling and by rastering of the telescope pointing to map areas larger than the field of view The SPIRE instrument consists of a cold focal plane unit located inside the Herschel cryostat and warm electronics units, located on the spacecraft Service Module, for instrument control and data handling Science data are transmitted to Earth with no on-board data compression, and processed by automatic pipelines to produce calibrated science products The in-flight performance of the instrument matches or exceeds predictions based on pre-launch testing and modelling: the photometer sensitivity is comparable to or slightly better than estimated pre-launch, and the spectrometer sensitivity is also better by a factor of 15-2

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The Herschel-SPIRE instrument and its in-flight performance

Ordered magnetic nanostructures: fabrication and properties

Advances in solid state white lighting technologies witness the explosive development of phosphor materials (down-conversion luminescent materials). A large amount of evidence has demonstrated the revolutionary role of the emerging nitride phosphors in producing superior white light-emitting diodes for lighting and display applications. The structural and compositional versatility together with the unique local coordination environments enable nitride materials to have compelling luminescent properties such as abundant emission colors, controllable photoluminescence spectra, high conversion efficiency, and small thermal quenching/degradation. Here, we summarize the state-of-art progress on this novel family of luminescent materials and discuss the topics of materials discovery, crystal chemistry, structure-related luminescence, temperature-dependent luminescence, and spectral tailoring. We also overview different types of nitride phosphors and their applications in solid state lighting, including general ...

Down-Conversion Nitride Materials for Solid State Lighting: Recent Advances and Perspectives.

New theoretical results for noise in cryogenic bolometers are derived. Johnson noise is reduced by as much as 60% by electrothermal feedback from the bias supply. Phonon noise in the thermal link is reduced by as much as 30% relative to the usual equilibrium formula. Photon noise in the Rayleigh-Jeans limit is computed with attention to the attenuation of the photon correlations in the light beam. Basic results on bolometer responsivity, time constant, and thermal properties are presented in a new and convenient form. Excess 1/f and contact shot noise are also discussed.

Bolometer noise: nonequilibrium theory

A symmetric van der Pauw disk of homogeneous nonmagnetic indium antimonide with an embedded concentric gold inhomogeneity is found to exhibit room-temperature geometric magnetoresistance as high as 100, 9100, and 750,000 percent at magnetic fields of 0.05, 0.25, and 4.0 teslas, respectively. For inhomogeneities of sufficiently large diameter relative to that of the surrounding disk, the resistance is field-independent up to an onset field above which it increases rapidly. These results can be understood in terms of the field-dependent deflection of current around the inhomogeneity.

https://science.sciencemag.org/content/sci/289/5484/1530.full.pdf

Enhanced Room-Temperature Geometric Magnetoresistance in Inhomogeneous Narrow-Gap Semiconductors.

We investigate the longitudinal resistance of a semiconductor near-surface two-dimensional electron gas (2DEG) subjected to a magnetic barrier induced by the stray field from a single sub-micron ferromagnetic line on the surface of the device. The amplitude of the magnetic barrier is controlled by the application of an external magnetic field in the plane of the 2DEG. We show that this type of magnetoresistance can be used to deduce properties of the ferromagnetic line, so that our hybrid ferromagnet-semiconductor structure acts as a nanomagnetometer.

Magnetoresistance of a two-dimensional electron gas due to a single magnetic barrier and its use for nanomagnetometry

This paper presents a compact survey of the various material schemes and device structures that have been explored in the quest toward developing light-emitting diodes (LEDs) based on zinc oxide (ZnO) and related II-oxide semiconductors. Both homojunction and heterojunction devices have been surveyed. Material for fabricating these devices has been grown with a number of different techniques, such as pulsed laser deposition, molecular beam epitaxy, metal-organic chemical vapor deposition, and atomic layer epitaxy. This review also features a self-contained introduction to materials science and device processing technologies that are relevant for fabricating ZnO LEDs. These topics include dry and wet etching, contact formation, and optical doping of ZnO. Due to the overwhelming importance of p-type doping of ZnO for making electronic and optoelectronic devices, a separate short section on electrical doping of ZnO is also included. The rest of this paper describes several different attempts at making blue- and ultraviolet-emitting ZnO LEDs. These include simple pn-junction devices as well as more complicated heterostructure devices incorporating charge carrier barriers and quantum wells.

https://www.spiedigitallibrary.org/journals/optical-engineering/volume-58/issue-1/010901/Zinc-oxide-light-emitting-diodes-a-review/10.1117/1.OE.58.1.010901.pdf

Zinc oxide light-emitting diodes: a review

We present the design and performance of a feedhorn-coupled bolometer array intended for a sensitive 350-μm photometer camera. Silicon nitride micromesh absorbers minimize the suspended mass and heat capacity of the bolometers. The temperature transducers, neutron-transmutation-doped Ge thermistors, are attached to the absorber with In bump bonds. Vapor-deposited electrical leads address the thermistors and determine the thermal conductance of the bolometers. The bolometer array demonstrates a dark noise-equivalent power of 2.9 × 10−17 W/√Hz and a mean heat capacity of 1.3 pJ/K at 390 mK. We measure the optical efficiency of the bolometer and feedhorn to be 0.45–0.65 by comparing the response to blackbody calibration sources. The bolometer array demonstrates theoretical noise performance arising from the photon and the phonon and Johnson noise, with photon noise dominant under the design background conditions. We measure the ratio of total noise to photon noise to be 1.21 under an absorbed optical power of 2.4 pW. Excess noise is negligible for audio frequencies as low as 30 mHz. We summarize the trade-offs between bare and feedhorn-coupled detectors and discuss the estimated performance limits of micromesh bolometers. The bolometer array demonstrates the sensitivity required for photon noise-limited performance from a spaceborne, passively cooled telescope.

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Silicon nitride Micromesh Bolometer Array for Submillimeter Astrophysics.

Energy efficiency and lighting quality considerations are driving research into laser-pumped white light sources. Laser diodes as pump sources for downconversion phosphors promise freedom from "droop" that adversely affects the efficiency of light-emitting diodes (LEDs). High-intensity laser diode-pumped light sources for applications such as search lights and automobile headlights have been demonstrated recently. Our paper describes the design and construction of a domestic/office-type solid-state luminaire driven by light from an integrated violet laser-diode module. A trichromatic phosphor made from a blend of separate europium-containing rare-earth phosphors was used as the downconversion medium. Mechanical and optical design of the reflector and the phosphor plate are described. Characteristics of both the pump light and the downconverted light are also described. Our studies also looked at the variation of chromaticity coordinates with variation in pump power and the effect of laser speckle on the lamp's light output. Finally, there is a brief discussion of energy conversion efficiency and longevity considerations, comparing pumping with LEDs versus pumping with laser diodes.

Laser-driven phosphor-converted white light source for solid-state illumination

Polymethyl methacrylate (PMMA) is widely used as an electron beam resist but is not used as a photoresist because of its insensitivity to electromagnetic radiation with wavelengths longer than about 300 nm. In this paper we describe a technique for performing conventional photolithography with high molecular weight PMMA at the widely used 365 nm i-line wavelength. The technique involves photosensitizing PMMA with Irgacure 651—a commercially available photo-initiator that can cause PMMA strands to cross-link. Optimum amount of Irgacure can produce a negative tone photoresist with adequate photosensitivity and plasma etch resistance. We describe this technique in detail with complete processing conditions and discuss the effects of varying Irgacure 651 concentration in PMMA as well as changes in UV exposure dose. We also show example structures patterned with commonly available materials and equipment. Finally, we show that it is possible to carry out gradient lithography with this approach, in order to produce structures in relief in photosensitive PMMA.

http://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1088/0268-1242/31/2/025010/pdf

Faiz Rahman

Papers

Magnetoresistance of a two-dimensional electron gas due to a single magnetic barrier and its use for nanomagnetometry

Zinc oxide light-emitting diodes: a review

Silicon nitride Micromesh Bolometer Array for Submillimeter Astrophysics.

Laser-driven phosphor-converted white light source for solid-state illumination

Photolithography with polymethyl methacrylate (PMMA)