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Detector technology

Cryogenic Detector

The broad family of detectors that must be cooled to cryogenic temperatures — sometimes thousandths of a degree above absolute zero — so that thermal noise does not swamp the faint astronomical signal. Bolometers and MKIDs are cryogenic detectors; the technique is essential across the infrared, millimetre, and X-ray.

Knowledge connections

Sources

The primary and reference sources this topic draws on.

  • NSF NOIRLabNSF National Optical-Infrared Astronomy Research Laboratory

    Ground-based optical/infrared observatory data and imagery.