Origin of the hook effect in extrinsic photoconductors

The response of extrinsic photoconductors to a step change in incident photon flux has long been known to exhibit a sharp transient feature, particularly at higher signal levels, known as the hook effect. We demonstrate experimentally and theoretically that the hook effect can be due to reduced illumination adjacent to the injecting contact. This nonuniformity can be produced by the transverse illumination of the detector that is common for far-infrared Ge:Ga devices. The hook effect has been demonstrated to be either present or absent in the same Ge:Ga photoconductor, at comparable signal size, depending on the nature of the contact illumination. Numerical finite-difference calculations of the transient response support this explanation and produce features that replicate the experimental results.     

Transient behavior of infrared photoconductors: application of a numerical model

A numerical model for the transient response of extrinsic photoconductors is applied to the behavior of Ge:Ga and GaAs:Te detectors. Photoconductors display a two-component response to changes in illumination. The characteristic time and magnitude for the slow component have been studied as a function of background flux, applied field, temperature, device length, and signal size. For large-signal applications, the background flux affects the transient response even when the signal is orders of magnitude greater than the background. Experimental results are presented to support key predictions of the modeling. Because the ratio of fast to slow components is independent of both background and signal size, we propose the operation of detectors in such a way that final signal levels are derived from the fast component.     

Fabrication and characterisation of p-type GaN metal-semiconductor-metal ultraviolet photoconductors grown by MBE

We have fabricated interdigital metal-semiconductor-metal ultraviolet photoconductors using p-type GaN grown by MBE. The material had a hole concentration of 10¹⁸ cm⁻³ and a mobility of 5 cm² V⁻¹ s⁻¹. The spectral response of the detectors has been measured and it shows a peak at 364.2 nm (3.402 eV) possibly caused by excitonic effects. The transient response of the photodetector cannot be described by a single time constant. The rise and fall times of the photoresponse are different indicating that the theory usually applied to GaN photoconductors is not valid.     

Development of a gallium-doped germanium far-infrared photoconductor direct hybrid two-dimensional array

To our knowledge, we are the first to successfully report a direct hybrid two-dimensional (2D) detector array in the far-infrared region. Gallium-doped germanium (Ge:Ga) has been used extensively to produce sensitive far-infrared detectors with a cutoff wavelength of approximately equal to 110 microm (2.7 THz). It is widely used in the fields of astronomy and molecular and solid spectroscopy. However, Ge:Ga photoconductors must be cooled below 4.2 K to reduce thermal noise, and this operating condition makes it difficult to develop a large format array because of the need for a warm amplifier. Development of Ge:Ga photoconductor arrays to take 2D terahertz images is now an important target in such research fields as space astronomy. We present the design of a 20 x 3 Ge:Ga far-infrared photoconductor array directly hybridized to a Si p-type metal-oxide-semiconductor readout integrated circuit using indium-bump technology. The main obstacles in creating this 2D array were (1) fabricating a monolithic Ge:Ga 2D array with a longitudinal configuration, (2) developing a cryogenic capacitive transimpedance amplifer, and (3) developing a technology for connecting the detector to the electronics. With this technology, a prototype Ge:Ga photoconductor with a direct hybrid structure has shown a responsivity as high as 14.6 A/W and a minimum detectable power of 5.6 x 10(-17) W for an integration time of 0.14 s when it was cooled to 2.1 K. Its noise is limited by the readout circuit with 20 microV/Hz(1/2) at 1 Hz. Vibration and cooling tests demonstrated that this direct hybrid structure is strong enough for spaceborne instruments. This detector array will be installed on the Japanese infrared satellite ASTRO-F.     

Cold stepping drive for the ISO/LWS

Development work has begun on an interchange mechanism for the pair of Fabry-Perot interferometers proposed for the Long Wavelength Spectrometer planned as one of the focal plane instruments for the Infrared Space Observatory. The two Fabry-Perot assemblies will be mounted on a balanced wheel which is to be carried on a shaft mounted in ball bearings which have been MoS₂ treated at the European Space Tribology Laboratory. Cryogenic testing is in hand at the Institute of Cryogenics, University of Southampton, UK. A ring gear on the wheel will be driven from the output pinion of a stepping motor. At a later stage in the project a choice will be made among all available cold motors with suitable performance. In the meantime, a prototype has been built of a special cryogenic permanent magnet stepping motor intended to operate on a current of a few milliamperes. The Paper describes constructional features of the drive, together with early results for the motor prototype.     

利用SEM、EDS及WDS对铜及其氧化物的价态效应研究

利用扫描电子显微镜(SEM)、X射线能谱仪(EDS)及X射线波谱仪(WDS)研究了铜及其氧化物的I_(Lα)/I_(Kα)和I_(Lα)/I_(Lβ)谱线强度比的价态效应。结果表明,不同价态铜的I_(Lα)/I_(Kα)和I_(Lα)/I_(Lβ)谱线强度比按一定的规律随价态而变化,即谱线强度比值随价数增加而减少。     

氮化镓肖特基结紫外探测器的异常特性测量

测量了CaN肖特基结紫外探测器在有、无光照下的I-V异常特性。分别用362nm和368nm光束对有源区进行横向扫描,得到了光照不同部位时探测器在无偏压、2V反向偏压下的电流。紫外光照到肖特基结压焊电极附近及透明电极边沿附近区域时,探测器在反向偏压下有较大增益,空间响应均匀性变差,在禁带内有两个增益响应峰波长——364nm和368nm。探测器在810nm光照射下,反向偏压下的光响应增益、持续光电导存在光淬灭现象。探测器紫外光照完后,俘获中心及表面陷阱所俘获的部分电荷在高反向偏置电压下老化可以通过隧穿或发射效应释放出来,经过高反向偏置电压老化完后的探测器在同一低反向偏置电压下暗电流比老化前的要小。测量结果为GaN器件的研制提供了参考数据。     

Design and performance of the HESSI cryostat

The High Energy Solar Spectroscopic Imager (HESSI) spacecraft, to be launched in July 2000, will be used to observe the Sun with the finest angular and energy resolutions ever achieved from a few keV to hundreds of keV. The spacecraft will use an array of nine germanium (Ge) detectors, each 7.1 cm in diameter and 8.5 cm long, operating at 75 K. The detectors are mounted in a cryostat on a common coldplate, and cooled by a small Stirling-cycle cryocooler. This paper describes the design of the cryostat, special accommodations for the Ge detectors, interfaces with the cryocooler, and thermal performance of the engineering test unit.     

Low-cost,fast and easy production of germanium nanostructures and interfacial electron transfer dynamics of BODIPY–germanium nanostructure system

Germanium nanostructures are prepared by electrochemical etching of n-type Sb-doped (100) oriented germanium (Ge) substrates with resistivity of 0.01 Ω cm. Ge substrates are etched in an electrochemical double cell containing hydrofluoric acid and ethanol solution at room temperature. Although the use of illumination source is essential for etching of an n-type semiconductor material, the influence of illumination source type on the germanium surface morphology has not yet been investigated. In this work, the illumination effect is studied by halogen lamp, white LED, 470- and 405-nm pulsed diode laser. It is demonstrated that different Ge surface morphologies such as nanocone, nanorod, nanoplate and nanopyramid are obtained using different illumination source. The current density, anodization time and pulsed laser power density effects on Ge nanopyramid are investigated in order to optimize anodization conditions. The most uniform and continuous Ge nanopyramid array is obtained at the current density of 30 mA/cm² for 45 min under cathode side illumination with 470-nm pulsed diode laser. It is observed that the nanostructured Ge surfaces exhibit a broad photoluminescence band between 400 and 650 nm. Time-resolved fluorescence spectroscopy studies of electron transfer process between BODIPY dye and Ge nanostructures are reported. The obtained fluorescence lifetime data are analyzed in the light of the Marcus electron transfer theory to determine the conduction band energy level of nanostructured germanium substrates.     

Crystallization and amorphization studies of a Ge(2)Sb(2.3)Te(5) thin-film sample under pulsed laser irradiation

We present the results of crystallization and amorphization studies on a thin-film sample of Ge(2)Sb(2.3)Te(5), encapsulated in a quadrilayer stack as in the media of phase-change optical disk data storage. The study was conducted on a two-laser static tester in which one laser, operating in pulsed mode, writes either amorphous marks on a crystalline film or crystalline marks on an amorphous film. The second laser, operating at low power in the cw mode, simultaneously monitors the progress of mark formation in terms of the variations of reflectivity both during the write pulse and in the subsequent cooling period. In addition to investigating some of the expected features associated with crystallization and amorphization, we noted certain curious phenomena during the mark-formation process. For example, at low-power pulsed illumination, which is insufficient to trigger the phase transition, there is a slight change in the reflectivity of the sample. This is believed to be caused by a reversible change in the complex refractive index of the Ge(2)Sb(2.3)Te(5) film in the course of heating above the ambient temperature. We also observed that the mark-formation process may continue for as long as 1 mus beyond the end of the write laser pulse. This effect is especially pronounced during amorphous mark formation under high-power, long-pulse illumination.     

Neutron spectrometry with Bonner Spheres for area monitoring in particle accelerators

Selecting the instruments to determine the operational quantities in the neutron fields produced by particle accelerators involves a combination of aspects, which is peculiar to these environments: the energy distribution of the neutron field, the continuous or pulsed time structure of the beam, the presence of other radiations to which the neutron instruments could have significant response and the large variability in the dose rate, which can be observed when moving from areas near the beam line to free-access areas. The use of spectrometric techniques in support of traditional instruments is highly recommended to improve the accuracy of dosimetric evaluations. The multi-sphere or Bonner Sphere Spectrometer (BSS) is certainly the most used device, due to characteristics such as the wide energy range, large variety of active and passive detectors suited for different workplaces, good photon discrimination and the simple signal management. Disadvantages are the poor energy resolution, weight and need to sequentially irradiate the spheres, leading to usually long measurement sessions. Moreover, complex unfolding analyses are needed to obtain the neutron spectra. This work is an overview of the BSS for area monitoring in particle accelerators.     

液膜密封振动及冲击动力学特性

液膜密封运行过程因工况瞬时变化、系统振动及润滑不足等因素易引发端面接触冲击,严重影响密封寿命。建立考虑端面接触的液膜密封动力学模型,采用直接数值求解方法对运动方程、质量守恒空化边界雷诺方程、微凸体接触方程在全时间域内耦合求解,研究了液膜空化、轴向扰动及运行工况瞬变对密封稳定性与冲击特性的影响。结果表明:液膜空化有效提高了系统抗干扰能力,膜厚越小,受扰动后震荡频率越大且恢复至稳定状态的时间越长;发生端面冲击时膜厚振动频率显著大于全液膜状态下所受扰动情况。随转速及密封腔压力变化值的不断扩大,接触载荷值及冲击频率均不断增大,冲力响应越显著,在端面接触发生瞬间有明显的速度方向突变。     

Improving long-path differential optical absorption spectroscopy with a quartz-fiber mode mixer

Long-path differential optical absorption spectroscopy (DOAS) has become an increasingly important method for determination of the concentration of tropospheric trace gases (e.g., O(3), NO(2), BrO, ClO). The use of photodiode array (PDA) detectors enhances long-path DOAS systems considerably owing to PDA's higher sensitivity resulting from the multiplex advantage. The detection limits of these systems are expected to be 1 order of magnitude lower than systems of similar optical setup with scanning detectors. When the scanning detector is simply replaced by a PDA, unwanted spectral structures of as much as 8 x 10(-3) appear. The size of these randomly changing structures exceeds the photon noise level by 2-3 orders of magnitude thus severely limiting the sensitivity. We show that an angular dependence of the response of the PDA causes this structure in combination with unavoidable changes in the illumination. A quartz-fiber mode mixer, which makes the illumination of the spectrograph-detector system nearly independent of the angular intensity distribution of the measured light, was developed and tested. This new device reduces the unwanted structures in laboratory and field experiments by a factor of 10. The detection limits of long-path DOAS instruments with PDA detectors are improved by the same amount and are thus lower than those of currently used systems with scanning detectors. At the same time a much shorter measurement time (by ~1 order of magnitude) becomes possible.     

Instrumental background in balloon-borne gamma-ray spectrometers and techniques for its reduction

A study of the instrumental background in balloon-borne gamma-ray spectrometers is presented. The calculations are based on newly available interaction cross sections and new analytic techniques, and are the most detailed and accurate published to date. Results compare well with measurements made in the 20 keV to 10 MeV energy range by the Goddard Low Energy Gamma-ray Spectrometer (LEGS). The principal components of the continuum background in spectrometers with Ge detectors and thick active shields are (1) elastic neutron scattering of atmospheric neutrons on the Ge nuclei, (2) aperture flux of atmospheric and cosmic gamma rays, (3)β^? decays of unstable nuclides produced by nuclear interactions of atmospheric protons and neutrons with Ge nuclei, and (4) shield leakage of atmospheric gamma rays. The improved understanding of these components leads to several recommended techniques for reducing the background. These include minimizing the passive material inside the shield and reducing the level of the shield threshold. A new type of coaxial n-type Ge detector with its outer contact segmented into horizontal rings can be used in various modes to reduce background in the 20 keV to 1 MeV energy range. The resulting improvement in instrument sensitivity to spectral lines is a factor of ～ 2 in this energy range.     

Nb-Si thin films as thermometers for low temperature bolometers

Thin alloy films with compositions leading to the Anderson metal-to-insulator transition can potentially lead to high detection sensitivities and adjustable input impedances as well as to excellent coupling to the heat absorber. We demonstrate some of these advantages in the case of Nb-Si films, whose bias power is shown to be at least 50 times that of NTD Ge detectors at about 30 mK.     

Concept of Metallic Magnetic Calorimeters for Rare Event Search in the LUMINEU Project

The project LUMINEU is mainly aiming at the search for neutrinoless double-beta decay of the candidate nuclide \(^{100}\) Mo using cryogenic ZnMoO \(_4\) detectors with simultaneous heat and scintillation light detection for radioactive background rejection. It also includes some development for dark matter search using cryogenic Ge detectors with simultaneous heat and ionization detection for background rejection. For both cases, metallic magnetic calorimeters (MMCs) are studied among several thermometer types. In double-beta decay search, the intrinsically fast response of MMCs reading out the light detector may allow for a very fast signal rise time and help to reduce the potential background due to pile-up of two-neutrino double beta decay events. In dark matter search, MMCs reading out the heat channel may improve the energy resolution with respect to the standard NTD Ge thermistor readout and hence the sensitivity of the detectors for low-mass WIMPs.     

Intercalibration of SUMER and CDS on SOHO. II. SUMER Detectors A and B and CDS NIS

Results of an intercalibration between the extreme-ultraviolet spectrometers Coronal Diagnostic Spectrometer (CDS) and Solar Ultraviolet Measurements of Emitted Radiation (SUMER) on board the Solar and Heliospheric Observatory (SOHO) are reported. The results of the joint observing program Intercal_01 are described, and intercalibration results up to July 2000 of both SUMER detectors A and B and of the CDS Normal Incidence Spectrometer (NIS) are presented. The instruments simultaneously observed radiance of emission lines at the center of the Sun, and three lines have been chosen for intercomparison: He i 584 A, Mg x 609 A, and Mg x 624 A. Initially the same area was observed by both instruments, but, after restrictions were imposed by the scanning mechanism of SUMER in November 1996, the instruments viewed areas of different sizes. Nevertheless, the temporal correlation between the two instruments remained good through June 1998, when contact with the SOHO spacecraft was lost. Until then the CDS instrument measured (33 ? 5)% and (38 ? 7)% (?1varsigma) higher intensity than SUMER in the He i 584-A line on average for detectors A and B, respectively. Data from SUMER detector B agreed well for Mg x 609 A and Mg x 624 A with the CDS intensities, showing offsets of (2 ? 10)% and (9 ? 15)%, much less than the data of detector A with offsets of (7 ? 8)% and (16 ? 7)% for the two lines, respectively, relative to CDS. Finally, the intercalibration measurements after the loss and recovery of the SOHO spacecraft are analyzed. The data for observations from November 1998 to July 2000 are compared, and it is shown that, although the responses of the instruments have changed, the CDS and the SUMER still perform well, and their temporal correlation is good.     

Intercalibration of SUMER and CDS on SOHO. III. SUMER and CDS-GIS. Solar and Heliospheric Observatory

Simultaneous observation of the same solar sources with different instruments is one way to test prelaunch radiometric calibrations and to detect changes in responsivity with time of extreme-ultraviolet instruments in space. Here we present the results of intercalibration of the SUMER (Solar Ultraviolet Measurements of Emitted Radiation) spectrometer (detectors A and B) and the GIS (Grazing Incidence Spectrometer), one of two spectrometers that compose the CDS (Coronal Diagnostic Spectrometer) on the Solar and Heliospheric Observatory (SOHO). The two instruments observed simultaneously radiances of emission lines at or near the center of the solar disk. The emission line chosen for intercomparison was Ne VIII at 770 A. However, such an intercomparison of the SUMER and CDS-GIS measurements means comparing two data sets with large differences in resolution and field of view. The latter difference, especially, introduces differences in the measured intensities caused by the solar variability that is relatively strong in the 770-A line. Using a statistical approach to overcome this problem, we found that the ratio of the GIS to the SUMER average radiances amounted to 2.6 +/- 0.9 before the SOHO's loss of attitude and to 2.1 +/- 0.7 afterward. These findings confirm earlier estimates of the GIS's responsivity being too low, and an update of the GIS calibration is recommended. Despite the large differences in resolution and field of view of the two instruments, the shapes of their normalized and rescaled histograms of the radiances agree well and therefore represent characteristic features of the Ne VIII line.     

Charge transfer in the presence of a layer of trapping centers in semiconductor SiC ionizing radiation detectors

The formation of a response signal in the presence of a layer of trapping centers in semiconductor SiC ionizing radiation detectors is considered on the basis of a new model. Since the trapping layer is situated near the detector surface, nuclear particles that possess long tracks partly generate a charge behind this layer. Under certain conditions, the proposed model leads to a paradoxical situation, in which the signal decreases with increasing bias voltage. The application of the model to results obtained using ion-doped 4H-SiC detectors provides a qualitative explanation for the experimentally observed increase in the signal with the temperature in the region of saturation with respect to the bias voltage (i.e., under the conditions of total charge transfer), which were previously unclear.     

A simulation code for the ionization and heat signals in low-temperature germanium detectors for Dark Matter research

A computation code is presented, allowing numerical simulation and pulse-shape analysis of the ionization and heat signals in low-temperature massive Ge detectors for Dark Matter research. The effects on charge collection are pointed out, arising from the Coulomb repulsion of free carriers within the charge clouds. Test experiments are described, aimed at event localization for improved background rejection.