Spectroscopy at extreme infra-red wavelenghts. I. Technique

Improved spectroscopic techniques are described for the difficult and relatively unexplored region of the extreme infra-red (between 70 μ and 1 mm wavelength), in which good sources of radiation do not exist. The improvements include the development and application of a superconducting bolometer, whose detectivity is about 100 times superior to that of the best room-temperature detector sensitive at these wavelengths.