Spectral Characterization of a Microbolometer Focal Plane Array at Terahertz Frequencies

TL;DR

This paper presents a method to characterize the spectral response of uncooled microbolometer arrays at terahertz frequencies using a broadband blackbody source and FTIR measurement, achieving high SNR over a wide bandwidth.

Contribution

It introduces a novel approach for spectral characterization of microbolometers at THz frequencies with high accuracy and broad spectral coverage.

Findings

Achieved spectral response measurement with SNR of 100

Covered a bandwidth of over 50 THz from 4 to 50 THz

Demonstrated effective use of a spectrum-tailored blackbody source

Abstract

We have developed a method to characterize the spectral response of an uncooled microbolometer focal plane array at a broad range of terahertz (THz) frequencies (4~50 THz). This is achieved by using a spectrum-tailored blackbody radiator as a broadband THz source and measuring its spectral power with a Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) interferometer. With an additional measurement with a pyroelectric detector as a reference, the spectral response of the microbolometer relative to the pyroelectric reference is obtained with a signal-to-noise ratio of 100 over a >50 THz bandwidth.