Computational analysis of electron-phonon cooling for a high-temperature superconductor terahertz thermal sensor

The mathematical treatment of the time-dependent heat transfer differential equations, involving electron-phonon (e-p) cooling in the sensor film and phonon-phonon cooling in the sensor-substrate system, has been developed in an earlier paper (Kaila M M 2002 J. Supercond. 15 185). In this paper, the effect of the e-p coupling, in particular with reference to responsivity and conversion gain, is studied. This is done with reference to a typical high-temperature superconductor hot electron heterodyne receiver. An analysis is presented related to the effects of e-p coupling and the phonon specific heat in particular, in the form of three-dimensional graphics