Abstract: We have investigated a phonon-cooled NbN hot electron bolometric (HEB) mixer in the frequency range from 0.7 THz to 5.2 THz. The device was a 3.5 nm thin film with an in- plane dimension of 1.7 X 0.2 micrometers ² integrated in a complementary logarithmic spiral antenna. The measured DSB receiver noise temperatures are 1500 K, 2200 K, 2600 K, 2900 K, 4000 K, 5600 K and 8800 K. The sensitivity fluctuation, the long term stability, and the antenna pattern were measured and the suitability of the mixer for a practical heterodyne receiver is discussed.

Abstract: We have studied the phonon-cooled hot-electron bolometer (HEB) as a quasioptical mixer based on a spiral antenna designed for the 0.3-1 THz frequency band and fabricated on sapphire and high resistivity silicon substrates. HEB devices were produced from superconducting 3.5-5 nm thick NbN films with a critical temperature 10-12 K and a critical current density of approximately 10/sup 7/ A/cm/sup 2/ at 4.2 K. For these devices we reached a DSB receiver noise temperature below 1500 K, a total conversion loss of L/sub t/=16 dB in the 500-700 GHz frequency range, an IF bandwidth of 3-4 GHz and an optimal LO absorbed power of /spl sime/4 /spl mu/W. We experimentally analyzed various contributions to the conversion loss and obtained an RF coupling factor of about 5 dB, internal mixer loss of 10 dB and IF mismatch of 1 dB.

Abstract: We investigate the response mechanism of nanowire superconducting single-photon detectors (SSPDs) made of amorphous MoxSi1-x. We study the dependence of photon count and dark count rates on bias current in magnetic fields up to 113 mT at 1.7 K temperature. The observed behavior of photon counts is similar to the one recently observed in NbN SSPDs. Our results show that the detecting mechanism of relatively high-energy photons does not involve the vortex penetration from the edges of the film, and on the contrary, the detecting mechanism of low-energy photons probably involves the vortex penetration from the film edges.

Abstract: We investigated the output noise of a YBa₂Cu₃O_7-δ (YBCO) superconducting hot-electron bolometer (HEB) in a large frequency range (10 kHz to 8 GHz); the bolometer either consisted of a structured 50 nm thick YBCO film on LaAlO/sub 3/ or a 30 nm thick film on a MgO substrate. We found that flicker noise dominated at low frequencies (below 1 MHz), while at higher frequencies Johnson noise and a current dependent noise were the main noise sources.

Abstract: We observed subnanosecond photoresponse of a structured superconducting YBa2Cu3O7−δ thin film to infrared and visible radiation. We measured the voltage response of a current biased film (thickness 700 Å) in a resistive state to radiation pulses. From our results we conclude a response time of about 90 ps and a responsivity of about 4×1010 Ω/J. We attribute the response to Cooper pair breaking and suppression of the superconducting energy gap induced by nonequilibrium quasiparticles.

Abstract: We perform measurements of the switching current distributions of three w approximately 120 nm wide, 4 nm thick NbN superconducting strips which are used for single-photon detectors. These strips are much wider than the diameter of the vortex cores, so they are classified as quasi-two-dimensional (quasi-2D). We discover evidence of macroscopic quantum tunneling by observing the saturation of the standard deviation of the switching distributions at temperatures around 2 K. We analyze our results using the Kurkijarvi-Garg model and find that the escape temperature also saturates at low temperatures, confirming that at sufficiently low temperatures, macroscopic quantum tunneling is possible in quasi-2D strips and can contribute to dark counts observed in single photon detectors. At the highest temperatures the system enters a multiple phase-slip regime. In this range single phase-slips are unable to produce dark counts and the fluctuations in the switching current are reduced.

Abstract: We present a design concept for a new state-of-the-art balloon borne atmospheric monitor that will allow enhanced limb sounding of the Earth's atmosphere within the submillimeter and far-infrared wavelength spectral range: TELIS, TErahertz and submm LImb Sounder. The instrument is being developed by a consortium of major European institutes that includes the Space Research Organisation of the Netherlands (SRON), the Rutherford Appleton Laboratory (RAL) in the United Kingdom and the Deutschen Zentrum far Luft- und Raumfahrt (DLR) in Germany (lead institute). TELIS will utilise state-of-the-art superconducting heterodyne technology and is designed to be a compact, lightweight instrument capable of providing broad spectral coverage, high spectral resolution and long flight duration (-24 hours duration during a single flight campaign). The combination of high sensitivity and extensive flight duration will allow evaluation of the diurnal variation of key atmospheric constituents such as OH, HO,, C10, BrO together will longer lived constituents such as 0 3 , HCL and N 2 0. Furthermore, TELIS will share a common balloon platform to that of the MIPAS-B Fourier Transform Spectrometer, developed by the Institute of Meteorology and Climate research of the University of Karlsruhe, Germany. MIPAS-B will provide simultaneous and complementary spectral measurements over an extended spectral range. The combination of the TELIS and MIPAS instruments will provide atmospheric scientists with a very powerful observational tool. TELIS will serve as a testbed for new cryogenic heterodyne detection techniques, and as such it will act as a prelude to future spacebome instruments planned by the European Space Agency (ESA).

Abstract: We present a proof-of-principle study of superconducting single photon detectors (SSPD) for the detection of individual neutral molecules/nanoparticles at low energies. The new detector is applied to characterize a laser desorption source for biomolecules and allows retrieval of the arrival time distribution of a pulsed molecular beam containing the amino acid tryptophan, the polypeptide gramicidin as well as insulin, myoglobin and hemoglobin. We discuss the experimental evidence that the detector is actually sensitive to isolated neutral particles.

Abstract: We present an analysis of a diffusion-cooled hot-electron bolometer in the limiting case of a weak thermalization of non-equilibrium quasiparticles. We propose a new model relying on the non-thermal suppression of the superconducting energy gap by excess quasiparticles. Using material parameters typical for Al, we evaluate performance of the bolometer in the heterodyne regime at terahertz frequencies. Estimates show that the mixer may have quantum limited noise temperature and a few tens of GHz bandwidth, while the required local oscillator power is in the /spl mu/W range due to in-effective suppression of the energy gap by quasiparticles with high energies.

Abstract: We present an extensive set of data on nanowire-type superconducting single-photon detectors based on niobium-nitride (NbN) to establish the empirical correlation between performance and the normal-state resistance per square. We focus, in particular, on the bias current, compared to the expected depairing current, needed to achieve a near-unity detection efficiency for photon detection. The data are discussed within the context of a model in which the photon energy triggers the movement of vortices i.e. superconducting dissipation, followed by thermal runaway. Since the model is based on the non-equilibrium theory for conventional superconductors deviations may occur, because the efficient regime is found when NbN acts as a marginal superconductor in which long-range phase coherence is frustrated.

Abstract: We present our recent results in research and development of superconducting single-photon detector (SSPD). We achieved the following performance improvement: first, we developed and characterized SSPD integrated in optical cavity and enabling its illumination from the face side, not through the substrate, second, we improved the quantum efficiency of the SSPD at around 3 μm wavelength by reduction of the strip width to 40 nm, and, finally, we improved the detection efficiency of the SSPD-based single-photon receiver system up to 20% at 1550 nm and extended its wavelength range beyond 1800 nm by the usage of the fluoride ZBLAN fibres.

Abstract: We present recent results showing the development of superconducting NbN hot-electron bolometer mixer for German receiver for astronomy at terahertz frequencies and terahertz limb sounder. The mixer is incorporated into a planar feed antenna, which has either logarithmic spiral or double-slot configuration, and backed on a silicon lens. The hybrid antenna had almost frequency independent and symmetric radiation pattern slightly broader than expected for a diffraction limited antenna. At 2.5 THz the best 2200 K double side-band receiver noise temperature was achieved across a 1 GHz intermediate frequency bandwidth centred at 1.5 GHz. For this operation regime, a receiver conversion efficiency of -17 dB was directly measured and the loss budget was evaluated. The mixer response was linear at load temperatures smaller than 400 K. Implementation of the MgO buffer layer on Si resulted in an increased 5.2 GHz gain bandwidth. The receiver was tested in the laboratory environment by measuring a methanol emission line at 2.5 THz.

Abstract: We present the measurements and the theoretical model on the frequency dependent noise temperature of a lattice cooled hot electron bolometer (HEB) mixer in the terahertz frequency range. The experimentally observed increase of the noise temperature with frequency is a cumulative effect of the non-uniform distribution of the high frequency current in the bolometer and the charge imbalance, which occurs near the edges of the normal domain and contacts with normal metal. In addition, we present experimental results which show that the noise temperature of a HEB mixer can be reduced by about 30% due to a Parylene antireflection coating on the Silicon hyperhemispheric lens.

Abstract: We present thorough measurements of the intrinsic detection efficiency in the wavelength range from 350 to 2500 nm for meander-type TaN and NbN superconducting nanowire single-photon detectors with different widths of the nanowire. The width varied from 70 nm to 130 nm. The open-beam configuration allowed us to accurately normalize measured spectra and to extract the intrinsic detection efficiency. For detectors from both materials the intrinsic detection efficiency at short wavelengths amounts at 100% and gradually decreases at wavelengths larger than the specific cut-off wavelengths, which decreases with the width of the nanowire. Furthermore, we show that applying weak magnetic fields perpendicular to the meander plane decreases the smallest detectable photon flux.

Abstract: We report on efficient coupling of THz radiation to a high-T(c) superconducting hot electron bolometer that is suitable for heterodyne detection. Our quasioptical system consisted of a planar self-complementary spiral antenna on a dielectric substrate clamped to an extended hyperhemispherical lens. The antenna was integrated into a co-planar line for broadband intermediate frequency matching. Measurements in the homodyne regime at a frequency of 2.5 THz showed a radiation pattern with a beam width of 1° and a coupling efficiency of 0.1. We measured, at an intermediate frequency of 1.5 GHz, an output noise temperature of'160 K and estimated for the device, operated in the heterodyne regime, a system noise temperature of 30 000 K. We also discuss possibilities of significant improvement of the sensitivity.

Abstract: We report an experimental investigation of the hot-spot evolution in superconducting single-photon detectors made of disordered superconducting materials with different diffusivity and energy downconversion time values, i.e., 33-nm-thick NbN and 23-nm-thick NbC films. We have demonstrated that, in NbC film, only 405-nm photons produce sufficiently large hot spot to trigger a single-photon response. The dependence of detection efficiency on bias current for 405-nm photons in NbC is similar to that for 3400-nm photons in NbN. In NbC, large diffusivity and downconversion time result in 1-D critical current suppression profile compared with the usual 2-D profile in NbN.

Abstract: We report on a superconducting hot electron bolometer coupled to radiation via a broadband antenna. The bolometer, a structured NbN film, was patterned on a thin dielectric membrane between terminals of a gold slotline antenna. We investigated the response to submillimeter radiation (wave-lengths ∼ 0.1 mm to 0.7 mm) in the fundamental Gaussian mode. We found that the directivity of the antenna was constant within a factor of 2.5 through the whole experimental range. The noise equivalent power of the bolometer at 119 µm was ∼ 3 · 10−13 W/Hz1/2; a time constant of ∼ 160 ps was estimated.

Abstract: We report on noise temperature measurements of a NbN phonon-cooled hot-electron bolometric mixer at different bias regimes. The device was a 3 nm thick bridge with in-plane dimensions of 1.7 x 0.2 gm 2 integrated in a complementary logarithmic spiral antenna. Measurements were performed at frequencies ranging from 0.7 THz up to 5.2 THz. The measured DSB noise temperatures are 1500 K (0.7 THz), 2200 K (1.4 THz), 2600 K (1.6 THz), 2900 K (2.5 THz), 4000 K (3.1 THz) 5600 K (4.3 THz) and 8800 K (5.2 THz). Two bias regimes are possible in order to achieve low noise temperatures. But only one of them yields sensitivity fluctuations close to the theoretical limit.

Abstract: We report on the bandwidth performance of the normal metal TiN bolometer-mixer on top of an Al 2 O 3 substrate, which is capable to operate in a wide range of bath temperatures from 77 K – 300 K. The choice of the combination TiN / Al 2 O 3 is related to an advanced heat transport between the film and the substrate in this pair and the sufficient temperature coefficient of resistance. The data were taken at 132.5 – 145.5 GHz with two BWOs as a signal and an LO source. Measurements were taken on TiN films of different thickness starting from 20 nm down to 5 nm coupled into a spiral Au antenna, which improves matching of incoming radiation with the thin TiN fim. Our experiments demonstrate effective heat coupling from a TiN thin film to an Al 2 O 3 substrate (111) boosting gain bandwidth (GB) of TiN bolometer up to 6 GHz for 5 nm thin film. Current results indicate weak temperature dependence of GB on the bath temperature of the TiN bolometer. Theoretical estimations of GB performance meet with experimental data for 5 nm thin TiN films.

Abstract: We report on the studies of the intermediate frequency (IF) bandwidth of quasi-optically coupled NbN hot-electron bolometer (HEB) mixers which are aimed at the optimization of the mixer performance at terahertz frequencies. Extension of the IF bandwidth due to the contribution of electron diffusion to the heat removal from NbN microbolometers has been already demonstrated for NbN HEBs at subterahertz frequencies. However, reducing the size of the microbolometer causes degradation of the noise temperature. Using in-situ multilayer manufacturing process we succeeded to improve the transparency of the contacts for electrons which go away from microbolometer to the metallic antenna. The improved transparency and hence coupling efficiency counterbalances the noise temperature degradation. HEB mixers were tested in a laboratory heterodyne receiver with a narrow-band cold filter which allowed us to eliminate direct detection. We used a local oscillator with a quantum cascade laser (QCL) at a frequency of 4.745 THz [1] which was developed for the H-Channel of the German Receiver for Astronomy at Terahertz frequencies (GREAT). Both the noise and gain bandwidth were measured in the IF range from 0.5 to 8 GHz using the hot-cold technique and preliminary calibrated IF analyzer with a tunable microwave filter. For optimized HEB geometry we found the noise bandwidth as large as 7 GHz. We compare our results with the conventional and the hot-spot mixer models and show that further extension of the IF bandwidth should be possible via improving the sharpness of the superconducting transition. The cross characterization of the HEB mixer was performed in the test bed of GREAT at the Max-Planck-Institut für Radioastronomie with the same QCL LO and delivered results which were consistent with the laboratory studies.

Abstract: We report our studies on spectral sensitivity of meander-type, superconducting NbN thin-film single-photon detectors (SPDs), characterized by GHz counting rates of visible and near-infrared photons and negligible dark counts. Our SPDs exhibit experimentally determined quantum efficiencies ranging from ∼0.2% at the 1.55 μm wavelength to ∼70% at 0.4 μm. Spectral dependences of the detection efficiency (DE) at the 0.4 to 3.0-μm-wavelength range are presented. The exponential character of the DE dependence on wavelength, as well as its dependence versus bias current, is qualitatively explained in terms of superconducting fluctuations in our ultrathin, submicron-width superconducting stripes. The DE values of large-active-area NbN SPDs in the visible range are high enough for modern quantum communications.

Abstract: We report the study on the quasioptical coupling efficiency and the gain bandwidth of NbN hot-electron bolometer mixers developed for the 4.7 THz channel of the German receiver for Astronomy at THz-frequencies (GREAT) and for security screening at subterahertz frequencies. Radiation coupling efficiency and directive properties of integrated lens antennas with log-spiral, log-periodic and double-slot planar feeds coupled to a hot-electron bolometer were experimentally studied at frequencies from 1 THz to 6 THz and compared with simulations based on the method of moments and the physical-optics ray tracing. For all studied antennas the modeled spectral dependence of the coupling efficiency fits to the experimental data obtained with both Fourier transform spectroscopy and noise temperature measurements only if the complex impedance of the bolometer is explicitly taken into account. Our experimental data did not indicate any noticeable contribution of the quantum noise to the system noise temperature. The experimentally observed deviation of the beam pattern from the model prediction increases with frequency and is most likely due to a non- ideality of the presently used lenses. Study of the intermediate frequency mixer gain at local oscillator (LO) frequencies between 2.5 THz and 0.3 THz showed an increase of the gain bandwidth at low LO frequencies that was understood as the contribution of the direct interaction of magnetic vortices with the radiation field. We have found that the non- homogeneous hot-spot model more adequately describes variation of the intermediate frequency bandwidth with the applied local oscillator power than any of uniform mixer models. The state-of-the-day performance of the GREAT 4.7-THz channel and the 0.8-THz security scanner will be presented.

Abstract: We studied the far-infrared emission characteristics of a cyclotron p-germanium laser using a broad-band superconducting Nb film detector. For magnetic fields between ∼25 kOe and ∼50 kOe, emission in a frequency range from ∼50 cm-1 to ∼100 cm-1 with maximum intensity around 90 cm-1 was obtained. We determined, for fixed magnetic fields, electric field dependences of the emission intensity taking into account that the total electric field is a sum of the applied and the Hall electric field. An analysis of the emission intensity characteristic gives evidence that transitions between the two lowest Landau levels of light holes are responsible for the laser action.

Abstract: We use an external magnetic field to probe the detection mechanism of a superconducting nanowire single-photon detector. We argue that the hot belt model (which assumes partial suppression of the superconducting order parameter Δ across the whole width of the superconducting nanowire after absorption of the photon) does not explain observed weak-field dependence of the photon count rate (PCR) for photons with λ=450nm and noticeable decrease of PCR (with increasing the magnetic field) in a range of the currents for photons with wavelengths λ=450–1200nm. Found experimental results for all studied wavelengths can be explained by the vortex hot spot model (which assumes partial suppression of Δ in the area with size smaller than the width of the nanowire) if one takes into account nucleation and entrance of the vortices to the photon induced hot spot and their pinning by the hot spot with relatively large size and strongly suppressed Δ.

Abstract: With use of the travelling-wave geometry approach, integrated superconductor- nanophotonic devices based on silicon nitride nanophotonic waveguide with a superconducting NbN-nanowire suited on top of the waveguide were fabricated. NbN-nanowire was operated as a single-photon counting detector with up to 92 % on-chip detection efficiency in the coherent mode, serving as a highly sensitive IR heterodyne mixer with spectral resolution (f/df) greater than 106 in C-band at 1550 nm wavelength

Abstract: Теоретически и экспериментально исследовано физическое ограничение быстродействия сверхпроводящего болометра. Показано, что минимальная постоянная времени реализуется в условиях электронного разогрева и определяется процессом неупругого электрон-фонон-ного взаимодействия. Сформулированы требования к конструкции «электронного болометра» для достижения предельной чувствительности. Проведено сравнение характеристик электрон­ного болометра и обычных болометров различных типов.