Superconducting detector assembly and apparatus utilizing same

Claim 1

A transform spectrometer comprising, in combination: (1) a detector assembly for discriminating as a function of wavelength, radiation impinging thereon, said detector assembly comprising: a plurality of superconductor bolometers arranged as an array and having substantially contiguous operative surfaces providing at least one planar irradiation face, all of said bolometers being responsive to radiation throughout a given range of wavelengths; and an interference layer superposed upon said irradiation face of said array with an associated region of said layer in registry with each of said bolometers, said layer being composed of a material that produces constructive and destructive optical interference conditions to periodically modulate, and thereby transmit selectively as a function of layer thickness, multiple bands of wavelengths of radiation in said range, said regions differing from one another in thickness so as to constitute said layer a graded interference filter, and to thereby provide a plurality of detectors that differ from one another in their response to radiation within said given range, each of said detectors registering a spectral irradiance periodically modulated, thereby being capable of discriminating a plurality of wavelength bands; (2) means for maintaining said detector assembly at cryogenic temperatures in a range for varying the conductance of said bolometers; (3) means for generating electrical currents, said means for generating being operatively connected to said array; and (4) electronic data processing means for transforming said currents, after passage through said bolometers of said array, so as to produce signals representative of the energy of radiation caused to impinge upon said irradiation face, discriminated as a function of wavelength said data processing means functioning to apply matrix-inversion transform algorithms to said electrical current, for producing such signals.