Abstract

The radiant output of a noise tube (C. P. Clare Model TN-167), designed for the 90–140-GHz (3.3–2.1-mm) frequency range, has been compared with that from mercury lamps over the wavelength region from 0.4 to ~6 mm. Lamellar grating and Michelson Fourier transform spectrometers were used in conjunction with He cooled bolometers of NEP from 10⁻¹² to 10⁻¹⁴ W/(H₂)^1/2 to measure relative spectral irradiance. With this instrumental arrangement, the radiant power emitted by the noise tube was observed to be less than that from a mercury lamp, at least to a 3-mm wavelength, but it produced less source noise than an ac operated mercury lamp. When the noise tube operating current was reduced, the spectral irradiance peak shifted to longer wavelengths.

© 1988 Optical Society of America

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