Characterisation of pulsed Carbon fiber illuminators for FIR instrument calibration

Abstract

We manufactured pulsed illuminators emitting in the far infrared for the Planck-HFI bolometric instrument ground calibrations. Specific measurements have been conducted on these light sources, based on Carbon fibers, to understand and predict their properties. We present a modelisation of the temperature dependence of the thermal conductivity and the calorific capacitance of the fibers. A comparison between simulations and bolometer data is given, that shows the coherence of our model. Their small time constants, their stability and their emission spectrum pointing in the submm range make these illuminators a very usefull tool for calibrating FIR instruments.