Infrared imaging video bolometer with a double layer absorbing foil

The object of the present paper is an infrared video bolometer with a bolometer foil consisting of two layers: the first layer is constructed of radiation absorbing blocks and the second layer is a thermal isolating base. The absorbing blocks made of a material with a high photon attenuation coefficient (gold) were spatially separated from each other while the base should be made of a material having high tensile strength and low thermal conductance (stainless steel). Such a foil has been manufactured in St. Petersburg and calibrated in NIFS using a vacuum test chamber and a laser beam as an incident power source. A finite element method (FEM) code was applied to simulate the thermal response of the foil. Simulation results are in good agreement with the experimental calibration data. The temperature response of the double layer foil is a factor of two higher than that of a single foil IR video bolometer using the same absorber material and thickness. (author)