Print
PDFA bolometer is a device used to measure the energy of incident electromagnetic radiation of any frequency. It uses a thin layer of an absorptive material that is thermally connected to a heat sink of the same temperature. As the absorptive material absorbs electromagnetic energy, its temperature rises above the constant temperature of the heat sink where a connected thermistor or RTD can detect the difference. This change in temperature can be used to tell the amount of electromagnetic energy being absorbed by the bolometer.
Bolometers originally used metals as the absorptive material, but modern day bolometers mostly use semi or superconductor materials. These materials become more sensitive to radiation when cooled as close to absolute zero as possible.
Refer to the RF & Communications Resources page for additional information about RF terminology, fundamentals, and National Instruments RF products.
Reader Comments | Submit a comment »
Legal
This tutorial (this "tutorial") was developed by National Instruments ("NI"). Although technical support of this tutorial may be made available by National Instruments, the content in this tutorial may not be completely tested and verified, and NI does not guarantee its quality in any way or that NI will continue to support this content with each new revision of related products and drivers. THIS TUTORIAL IS PROVIDED "AS IS" WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND AND SUBJECT TO CERTAIN RESTRICTIONS AS MORE SPECIFICALLY SET FORTH IN NI.COM'S TERMS OF USE (http://ni.com/legal/termsofuse/unitedstates/us/).