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Shurakov, Alexander; Tong, Edward; Blundell, Raymond; Gol'tsman, Gregory |
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Title |
Microwave stabilization of HEB mixer by a microchip controller |
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2012 |
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IEEE MTT-S international microwave symposium digest |
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1-3 |
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HEB mixer stability, microwave injection, Allan variance, Allan time |
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The stability of a Hot Electron Bolometer (HEB) mixer can be improved by the use of microwave injection. In this article we report a refinement of this approach. We introduce a microchip controller to facilitate the implementation of the stabilization scheme, and demonstrate that the feedback loop effectively suppresses drifts in the HEB bias current, leading to an improvement in the receiver stability. The measured Allan time of the mixer's IF output power is increased to > 10 s. |
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Montreal, QC, Canada |
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857 |
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Ryabchun, Sergey; Tong, Cheuk-Yu Edward; Blundell, Raymond; Gol'tsman, Gregory |
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Title |
Stabilization scheme for hot-electron bolometer receivers using microwave radiation |
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2009 |
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IEEE Trans. Appl. Supercond. |
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IEEE Trans. Appl. Supercond. |
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19 |
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1 |
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14-19 |
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HEB, mixer, Allan variance, stabilization, radiometer equation |
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We present the results of a stabilization scheme for terahertz receivers based on NbN hot-electron bolometer (HEB) mixers that uses microwave radiation with a frequency much lower than the gap frequency of NbN to compensate for mixer current fluctuations. A feedback control loop, which actively controls the power level of the injected microwave radiation, has successfully been implemented to stabilize the operating point of the HEB mixer. This allows us to increase the receiver Allan time to 10 s and also improve the temperature resolution of the receiver by about 30% in the total power mode of operation. |
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1051-8223 |
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RPLAB @ lobanovyury @ |
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559 |
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Ryabchun, Sergey; Tong, Cheuk-Yu Edward; Paine, Scott; Lobanov, Yury; Blundell, Raymond; Goltsman, Gregory |
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Title |
Temperature resolution of an HEB receiver at 810 GHz |
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2009 |
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IEEE Trans. Appl. Supercond. |
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IEEE Trans. Appl. Supercond. |
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19 |
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3 |
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293-296 |
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HEB mixer |
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We present the results of direct measurements of the temperature resolution of an HEB receiver operating at 810 GHz, in both continuum and spectroscopic modes. In the continuum mode, the input of the receiver was switched between black bodies with different physical temperatures. With a system noise temperature of around 1100 K, the receiver was able to resolve loads which differed in temperature by about 1 K over an integration time of 5 seconds. This resolution is significantly worse than the value of 0.07 K given by the radiometer equation. In the spectroscopic mode, a gas cell filled with carbonyl sulphide (OCS) gas was used and the emission line at 813.3537060 GHz was measured using the receiver in conjunction with a digital spectrometer. From the observed spectra, we determined that the measurement uncertainty of the equivalent emission temperature was 2.8 K for an integration time of 0.25 seconds and a spectral resolution of 12 MHz, compared to a 1.4 K temperature resolution given by the radiometer equation. This relative improvement is due to the fact that at short integration times the contribution from 1/f noise and drift are less dominant. In both modes, the temperature resolution was improved by about 40% with the use of a feedback loop which adjusted the level of an injected microwave radiation to maintain a constant operating current of the HEB mixer. This stabilization scheme has proved to be very effective to keep the temperature resolution of the HEB receiver to close to the theoretical value given by the radiometer equation. |
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636 |
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Kawamura, Jonathan; Blundell, Raymond; Tong, C.-Y. Edward; Papa, D. Cosmo; Hunter, Todd R.; Paine, Scot.t. N.; Patt, Ferdinand; Gol'tsman, Gregory; Cherednichenko, Sergei; Voronov, Boris; Gershenzon, Eugene |
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Superconductive hot-electron bolometer mixer receiver for 800 GHz operation |
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Miscellaneous |
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2000 |
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IEEE Trans. Microwave Theory and Techniques |
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IEEE Trans. Microwave Theory and Techniques |
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48 |
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4 |
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683-689 |
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RPLAB @ s @ Kawamura_superconductivehot-electron |
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424 |
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Tong, C.-Y. Edward; Kawamura, Jonathan; Todd, R. Hunter; Papa, D. Cosmo; Blundell, Raymond.; Smith, Michael; Patt, Ferdinand; Gol'tsman, Gregory; Gershenzon, Eugene |
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Successful operation of a 1 THz NbN hot-electron bolometer receiver |
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2000 |
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Proc. 11th Int. Symp. Space Terahertz Technol. |
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Proc. 11th Int. Symp. Space Terahertz Technol. |
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49-59 |
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NbN HEB mixers, applications |
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A phonon-cooled NbN superconductive hot-electron bolometer receiver covering the frequency range 0.8-1.04 THz has successfully been used for astronomical observation at the Sub-Millimeter Telescope Observatory on Mount Graham, Arizona. This waveguide heterodyne receiver is a modified version of our fixed-tuned 800 GHz HEB receiver to allow for operation beyond 1 THz. The measured noise temperature of this receiver is about 1250 K at 0.81 THz, 560 K at 0.84 THz, and 1600 K at 1.035 THz. It has a 1 GHz wide IF bandwidth, centered at 1.8 GHz. This receiver has recently been used to detect the CO (9-8) molecular line emission at 1.037 THz in the Orion nebula. This is the first time a ground-based heterodyne receiver has been used to detect a celestial source above 1 THz. |
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303 |
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Tong, C.-Y. Edward; Meledin, Denis; Blundell, Raymond; Erickson, Neal; Kawamura, Jonathan; Mehdi, Imran; Gol'tsman, Gregory |
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A 1.5 THz hot-electron bolometer mixer operated by a planar diode-based local oscillator |
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2003 |
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Proc. 14th Int. Symp. Space Terahertz Technol. |
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Proc. 14th Int. Symp. Space Terahertz Technol. |
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286 |
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waveguide NbN HEB mixers |
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We describe a 1.5 THz heterodyne receiver based on a superconductin g hot-electron bolometer mixer, which is pumped by an all-solid-state local oscillator chain. The bolometer is fabricated from a 3.5 nm-thick niobium nitride film deposited on a quartz substrate with a 200 nm-thick magnesium oxide buffer layer. The bolometer measures 0.15 fun in width and 1.5 1..tm in length. The chip consisting of the bolometer and mixer circuitry is incorporated in a fixed-tuned waveguide mixer block with a corru g ated feed horn. The local oscillator unit comprises of a cascade of four planar doublers followin g a MMIC-based W-band power amplifier. The local oscillator is coupled to the mixer using a Martin-Puplett interferometer. The local oscillator output power needed for optimal receiver performance is approximately 1 to 2 11W, and the chain is able to provide this power at a number of frequency points between 1.45 and 1.56 THz. By terminating the rf input with room temperature and 77 K loads, a Y-factor of 1.11 (DSB) has been measured at a local oscillator frequency of 1.476 THz at 3 GHz intermediate frequency. |
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1501 |
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Edward Tong, C.-Y.; Loudkov, Denis N.; Paine, Scott N.; Marrone, Dan P.; Blundell, Raymond |
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Vector measurement of the beam pattern of a 1.5 THz superconducting HEB receiver |
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2005 |
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Proc. 16th Int. Symp. Space Terahertz Technol. |
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Proc. 16th Int. Symp. Space Terahertz Technol. |
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453-456 |
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NbTiN HEB mixers |
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Near-field vector beam pattern of the 1.5 THz superconducting Hot Electron Bolometer (HEB) receiver currently in operation in Northern Chile has been performed in our laboratory. Using an open waveguide probe, we have mapped both the amplitude and phase of the beam emerging from our 1.5 THz HEB receiver package, across a number of planes along the line of propagation of the radio-beam. With an integration time of about 100 ms per point, a signal-to-noise ratio of about 25 dB was achieved for a beam waist of 3.5 mm. These measurements have proved to be invaluable in achieving good alignment between the cryostat housing the HEB mixer and the remainder of the receiver and telescope optics. The accuracy of our beam measurement is estimated to be ±0.2 mm in position and ±5 arc minutes in angular displacement. |
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1474 |
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Ryabchun, Sergey; Tong, Cheuk-yu Edward; Blundell, Raymond; Kimberk, Robert; Gol’tsman, Gregory |
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Stabilisation of a terahertz hot-electron bolometer mixer with microwave feedback control |
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2007 |
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Proc. 18th Int. Symp. Space Terahertz Technol. |
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Proc. 18th Int. Symp. Space Terahertz Technol. |
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193-198 |
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waveguide NbN HEB mixers, Allan variance, stability |
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We report on implementation of microwave feedback control loop to stabilise the performance of an HEB mixer receiver. It is shown that the receiver sensitivity increases by a factor of 4 over a 16-minute scan, and the corresponding Allan time increases up to 10 seconds, as opposed to an open loop value of 1 second. Our experiments also demonstrate that the receiver sensitivity is limited by the intermediate frequency chain. |
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1421 |
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Lobanov, Yury V.; Tong, Cheuk-yu E.; Hedden, Abigail S.; Blundell, Raymond; Gol’tsman, Gregory N. |
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Microwave-assisted measurement of the frequency response of terahertz HEB mixers with a Fourier transform spectrometer |
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2010 |
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Proc. 21th Int. Symp. Space Terahertz Technol. |
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Proc. 21th Int. Symp. Space Terahertz Technol. |
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420-423 |
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We describe a novel method of operation of the HEB direct detector for use with a Fourier Transform Spectrometer. Instead of elevating the bath temperature, we have measured the RF response of waveguide HEB mixers by applying microwave radiation to select appropriate bias conditions. In our experiment, a microwave signal is injected into the HEB mixer via its IF port. By choosing an appropriate injection level, the device can be operated close to the desired operating point. Furthermore, we have shown that both thermal biasing and microwave injection can reproduce the same spectral response of the HEB mixer. However, with the use of microwave injection, there is no need to wait for the mixer to reach thermal equilibrium, so characterisation can be done in less time. Also, the liquid helium consumption for our wet cryostat is also reduced. We have demonstrated that the signal- to-noise ratio of the FTS measurements can be improved with microwave injection. |
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Shurakov, Alexander; Tong, Cheuk-yu E.; Blundell, Raymond; Gol’tsman, Gregory |
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A microwave pumped HEB direct detector using a homodyne readout scheme |
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2014 |
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Proc. 25th Int. Symp. Space Terahertz Technol. |
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Proc. 25th Int. Symp. Space Terahertz Technol. |
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129 |
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waveguide NbN HEB detector, NEP |
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We report the results of our study on the noise performance of a fast THz detector based on the repurpose of hot electron bolometer mixer (HEB). Instead of operating with an elevated bath temperature, microwave power is injected into the HEB device, which enhances the sensitivity of the detector and at the same time provide a mechanism for reading out impedance changes of the device induced by the modulated incident THz radiation [1]. We have demonstrated an improvement of the detector’s optical noise equivalent power (NEP). Furthermore, by introducing a homodyne readout scheme based on a room temperature microwave mixer, the dynamic range of the detector is increased. The HEB devices used in this work were made of 4 nm thick NbN film. The detector chips were installed into a waveguide mixer block fitted with a corrugated horn, mounted on the cold plate of a liquid helium cryostat. The HEBs were operated at a bath temperature of 4.2 K. The signal beam was terminated on black bodies at ambient and liquid nitrogen temperatures. A chopper wheel placed in front of the cryostat window operating at a frequency of 1.48 kHz modulated the input load temperature of the detector. A cold mesh filter, centered at 830 GHz, was used to define the input signal power bandwidth. Microwave was injected through a broadband directional coupler inside the cryostat. Our experiments were mostly conducted at a pump frequency of 1.5 GHz. The reflected microwave power from the HEB device was fed into a cryogenic low noise amplifier (LNA). The output of the LNA was connected to the RF input port of a room temperature microwave mixer, which beat the reflected signal from the HEB using a copy of the original 1.5 GHz injection signal in a homodyne demodulation scheme. The amplitude of the detected power was measured by a lock-in amplifier, which was synchronized to the chopper frequency. Preliminary results yield an optical NEP of ~1 pW/ Hz 1/2 which corresponds to an improvement of a factor of 3 compared to [1], driven mainly by a lowering of the system noise floor. The dynamic range was also increased by similar amount. References 1. A. Shurakov et al. “A Microwave Pumped Hot Electron Bolometric Direct Detector,” submitted on Oct 18, 2013 to Appl. Phys. Let. |
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