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We describe the construction and performance of a passive, real-time terahertz camera based on a modular, 64-element linear array of cryogenic hotspot microbolometers. A reflective conical scanner sweeps out a 2 m x 4 m (vertical x horizontal) field of view (FOV) at a standoff range of 8 m. The focal plane array is cooled to 4 K in a closed cycle refrigerator, and the signals are detected on free-standing bridges of superconducting Nb or NbN at the feeds of broadband planar spiral antennas. The NETD of the focal-plane array, referred to the target plane and to a frame rate of 5 s(-1), is 1.25 K near the center of the array and 2 K overall.

This paper describes a calibrated broadband emitter for the millimeter-wave through terahertz frequency regime, called the aqueous blackbody calibration source. Due to its extremely high absorption, liquid water is chosen as the emitter on the basis of reciprocity. The water is constrained to a specific shape (an optical trap geometry) in an expanded polystyrene (EPS) container and maintained at a selected, uniform temperature. Uncertainty in the selected radiometric temperature due to the undesirable reflectance present at a water interface is minimized by the trap geometry, ensuring that radiation incident on the entrance aperture encounters a pair of s and a pair of p reflections at 45 degrees. For water reflectance R(w) of 40% at 45 degrees in W-band, this implies a theoretical effective aperture emissivity of (1-R(2)(ws)R(2)(wp))>98.8%. From W-band to 450 GHz, the maximum radiometric temperature uncertainty is +/-0.40 K, independent of water temperature. Uncertainty from 450 GHz to 1 THz is increased due to EPS scattering and absorption, resulting in a maximum uncertainty of -3 K at 1 THz.