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Instrumentation

Astronomers look to nanotechnology

Nature Nanotechnology volume 3, pages 459–460 (2008)Cite this article

A superconducting detector can count photons and measure their energy with an accuracy that could be good enough for space-based far-infrared telescopes.

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Figure 1: Schematic diagram (top left) showing the main elements of a bolometer: an absorber, which converts light into heat; a thermal mass with a small heat capacity, which results in large temperature changes; a thermometer, which detects these temperature changes; and a thermal link, which allows the heat to drain away to the heat sink.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Daniel E. Prober is in the Department of Applied Physics, Yale University, New Haven, Connecticut 06520, USA. daniel.prober@yale.edu,

    Daniel E. Prober

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Prober, D. Astronomers look to nanotechnology. Nature Nanotech 3, 459–460 (2008). https://doi.org/10.1038/nnano.2008.221

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