High Tc leads for remote sensing applications

✍ Scribed by M.W. Hooker; S.A. Wise; R. Selim; R. Caton; A.M. Buoncristiani

• Publisher: Elsevier Science
• Year: 1994
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 420 KB
• Volume: 34
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0011-2275
• DOI: 10.1016/0011-2275(94)90034-5

✦ Synopsis

Several NASA programmes designed to monitor the earth's atmosphere from space utilize infrared detectors which operate at or below 4.2 K for optimum performance. At present, the detectors are maintained at cryogenic temperatures by a stored volume of liquid helium. These detectors must be electrically linked to amplification electronics and data storage instruments maintained at 80 K. The electrical connections over the temperature gradient account for --20% of the total heat load on the Dewar for some systems, accelerating the boil-off of liquid helium cryogen and reducing the operational lifetime of the space-borne instruments. The recent discovery of high temperature superconductors has provided an opportunity to develop electrically conductive, thermally insulating links to bridge this thermal gradient. This paper describes the modelling of the thermal transport properties of thick film, high Tc electrical bridges across a 4.2-80K temperature gradient and the impact of such devices on a spaceborne remote sensing system.