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Author Huebers, H.-W.; Semenov, A.; Richter, H.; Birk, M.; Krocka, M.; Mair, U.; Smirnov, K.; Gol’tsman, G. N.; Voronov, B. M.
Title Superconducting hot electron bolometer as mixer for far-infrared heterodyne receivers Type Conference Article
Year 2003 Publication Proc. SPIE Abbreviated Journal Proc. SPIE
Volume 4855 Issue Pages 395-401
Keywords NbN HEB mixers
Abstract (up) Heterodyne receivers for applications in astronomy need quantum limited sensitivity. In instruments which are currently under development for SOFIA or Herschel superconducting hot electron bolometers (HEB) will be used to achieve this goal at frequencies above 1.4 THz. We present results of the development of a phonon-cooled NbN HEB mixer for GREAT, the German Receiver for Astronomy at Terahertz Frequencies, which will be flown aboard SOFIA. The mixer is a small superconducting bridge incorporated in a planar feed antenna and a hyperhemispherical lens. Mixers with logarithmic-spiral and double-slot feed antennas have been investigated with respect to their noise temperature, conversion loss, linearity and beam pattern. At 2.5 THz a double sideband noise temperature of 2200 K was achieved. The conversion loss was 17 dB. The response of the mixer was linear up to 400 K load temperature. The performance was verified by measuring an emission line of methanol at 2.5 THz. The measured linewidth is in good agreement with the linewidth deduced from pressure broadening measurements at millimeter wavelength. The results demonstrate that the NbN HEB is very well suited as a mixer for far-infrared heterodyne receivers.
Address
Corporate Author Thesis
Publisher SPIE Place of Publication Tucson, USA Editor Phillips, T. G.; Zmuidzinas, J.
Language Summary Language Original Title
Series Editor Series Title Presented at the Society of Photo-Optical Instrumentation Engineers (SPIE) Conference Abbreviated Series Title
Series Volume 4855 Series Issue Edition
ISSN ISBN Medium
Area Expedition Conference Millimeter and Submillimeter Detectors for Astronomy
Notes Approved no
Call Number Serial 335
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Author Huebers, H.-W.; Semenov, A.; Schubert, J.; Gol’tsman, G. N.; Voronov, B. M.; Gershenzon, E. M.; Krabbe, A.; Roeser, H.-P.
Title NbN hot-electron bolometer as THz mixer for SOFIA Type Conference Article
Year 2000 Publication Proc. SPIE Abbreviated Journal Proc. SPIE
Volume 4014 Issue Pages 195-202
Keywords NbN HEB mixers, airborne, stratospheric observatory, SOFIA
Abstract (up) Heterodyne receivers for applications in astronomy need quantum limited sensitivity. We have investigated phonon- cooled NbN hot electron bolometric mixers in the frequency range from 0.7 THz to 5.2 THz. The devices were 3.5 nm thin films with an in-plane dimension of 1.7 X 0.2 micrometers 2 integrated in a complementary logarithmic spiral antenna. The best measured DSB receiver noise temperatures are 1300 K (0.7 THz), 2000 K (1.4 THz), 2100 K (1.6 THz), 2600 K (2.5 THz), 4000 K (3.1 THz), 5600 K (4.3 THz), and 8800 K (5.2 THz). The sensitivity fluctuation, the long term stability, and the antenna pattern were measured. The results demonstrate that this mixer is very well suited for GREAT, the German heterodyne receiver for SOFIA.
Address
Corporate Author Thesis
Publisher SPIE Place of Publication Editor Melugin, R.K.; Roeser, H.-P.
Language Summary Language Original Title
Series Editor Series Title Abbreviated Series Title
Series Volume Series Issue Edition
ISSN ISBN Medium
Area Expedition Conference Airborne Telescope Systems
Notes Approved no
Call Number Serial 1554
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Author Hübers, Heinz-Wilhelm; Semenov, A.; Richter, H.; Smirnov, K.; Gol'tsman, G.; Voronov, B.
Title Phonon cooled far-infrared hot electron bolometer mixer Type Abstract
Year 2002 Publication NASA/ADS Abbreviated Journal NASA/ADS
Volume Issue Pages
Keywords NbN HEB mixers
Abstract (up) Heterodyne receivers for applications in astronomy need quantum-limited sensitivity. At frequencies above 1.4 THz superconducting hot electron bolometers (HEB) can be used to achieve this goal. We present results of the development of a quasi-optical phonon-cooled NbN HEB mixer for GREAT, the German heterodyne receiver for SOFIA. Different mixers with logarithmic spiral and double slot feed antennas have been investigated with respect to their noise temperature, conversion loss, linearity and beam pattern at several frequencies between 0.7 THz and 5.2 THz. At 2.5 THz a double sideband noise temperature of 2200 K was achieved. The conversion loss was 16 dB. The response of the mixer was linear up to 400 K load temperature. This performance was verified by measuring an emission line of methanol at 2.5 THz. The results demonstrate that the NbN HEB is very well suited as a mixer for FIR heterodyne receivers.
Address Monterey, CA
Corporate Author Thesis
Publisher Place of Publication Editor
Language Summary Language Original Title
Series Editor Series Title Abbreviated Series Title
Series Volume Series Issue Edition
ISSN ISBN Medium
Area Expedition Conference Far-IR, Sub-mm & MM Detector Technology Workshop, 1-3 April 2002
Notes id.37 Approved no
Call Number Serial 1534
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Author Karasik, B. S.; Gol'tsman, G. N.; Voronov, B. M.; Svechnikov, S. I.; Gershenzon, E. M.; Ekstrom, H.; Jacobsson, S.; Kollberg, E.; Yngvesson, K. S.
Title Hot electron quasioptical NbN superconducting mixer Type Journal Article
Year 1995 Publication IEEE Trans. Appl. Supercond. Abbreviated Journal IEEE Trans. Appl. Supercond.
Volume 5 Issue 2 Pages 2232-2235
Keywords NbN HEB mixers
Abstract (up) Hot electron superconductor mixer devices made of thin NbN films on SiO/sub 2/-Si/sub 3/N/sub 4/-Si membrane have been fabricated for 300-350 GHz operation. The device consists of 5-10 parallel strips each 5 /spl mu/m long by 1 /spl mu/m wide which are coupled to a tapered slot-line antenna. The I-V characteristics and position of optimum bias point were studied in the temperature range 4.5-8 K. The performance of the mixer at higher temperatures is closer to that predicted by theory for uniform electron heating. The intermediate frequency bandwidth versus bias has also been investigated. At the operating temperature 4.2 K a bandwidth as wide as 0.8 GHz has been measured for a mixer made of 6 nm thick film. The bandwidth tends to increase with operating temperature. The performance of the NbN mixer is expected to be better for higher frequencies where the absorption of radiation should be more uniform.
Address
Corporate Author Thesis
Publisher Place of Publication Editor
Language Summary Language Original Title
Series Editor Series Title Abbreviated Series Title
Series Volume Series Issue Edition
ISSN 1051-8223 ISBN Medium
Area Expedition Conference
Notes Approved no
Call Number Serial 1622
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Author Tretyakov, I.; Maslennikov, S.; Semenov, A.; Safir, O.; Finkel, M.; Ryabchun, S.; Kaurova, N.; Voronov, B.; Goltsman, G.; Klapwijk, T. M.
Title Impact of operating conditions on noise and gain bandwidth of NbN HEB mixers Type Conference Article
Year 2015 Publication Proc. 26th Int. Symp. Space Terahertz Technol. Abbreviated Journal Proc. 26th Int. Symp. Space Terahertz Technol.
Volume Issue Pages 39
Keywords NbN HEB mixers
Abstract (up) Hot-electron bolometer mixers (HEB’s) are the most promising devices as mixing element for terahertz spectroscopy and astronomy at frequencies beyond 1.4 THz. They have a low noise temperature and low demands on local oscillator (LO) power. 1,2 An important limitation is the IF bandwidth, of the order of a few GHz, and which in principle depends on energy relaxation due to electron- phonon processes and on diffusion-cooling. It has been proposed by Prober that a reduction in length of the HEB would lead to an increased bandwidth. 3 This appeared to be achieved by Tretyakov et al by measuring the gain bandwidth close to the critical temperature of the NbN. 2 Unfortunately, the noise bandwidth of similar devices operated at temperatures around 4.2 K appear not depend on the length. The fundamental problem to be addressed is the position-dependent superconducting state of the HEB- devices under operating conditions, which determines the conditions for the cooling of the hot quasiparticles. Some progress has been made by Barends et al in a semi-empirical model to describe the I,V curves under operating conditions at a bath temperature around 4.2 K. 4 In more recent work Vercruyssen et al have analyzed the I,V curve, without any LO-equivalent bias, of a model NSN system. 5 This work suggests that the most appropriate model for an HEB under operating conditions is that of a potential-well in the superconducting gap in the center of the NbN, analogous the bimodal superconducting state described by Vercruyssen et al. Hot quasiparticles in the well can not diffuse out and can only cool by electron-phonon processes, those with higher energies than the heights of the walls of the well can diffuse out. Using this working hypothesis we have carried out experiments on a sub-micrometer NbN bridge connected to a gold (Au) planar spiral antenna. An in situ process is used to deposit Au on NbN. The Au is removed in the center to define the uncovered NbN, which will act as the superconducting mixer itself. The antenna is deposited on the remaining Au layer on the NbN. The Au contacts suppress the energy gap of the NbN film located underneath the gold layer 7,8 . The measured resistive transition is shown in Fig.1. It clearly shows a T c of the bilayer at 6.2 K and the resistive transition of the NbN itself around 9 K. In addition we show the measured noise bandwidth (red squares) for different bath temperatures. Clearly the noise bandwidth increases strongly by increasing the bath temperature from 5 K to 8 K, up to 13 GHz. We interpret this pattern as evidence for improved out-diffusion of hot electrons due to normal banks and a shallow superconducting potential well compared to k B T. As expected the noise temperature in this regime is much bigger than when biased at 4.2 K. R EFERENCES 1 W. Zhang, P. Khosropanah, J. R. Gao, E. L. Kollberg, K. S. Yngvesson, T. Bansal, R. Barends, and T. M. Klapwijk Appl. Phys. Lett. 96, 111113, (2010). 2 Ivan Tretyakov, Sergey Ryabchun, Matvey Finkel, Anna Maslennikova, Natalia Kaurova, Anastasia Lobastova, Boris Voronov, and Gregory Gol’tsman Appl. Phys. Lett. 98, 033507 (2011). 3 D. E. Prober, Appl. Phys. Lett. 62, 2119 (1992). 4 R. Barends, M. Hajenius, J. R. Gao, and T. M. Klapwijk, Appl. Phys. Lett. 87, 263506 (2005). 5 N. Vercruyssen, T. G. A. Verhagen, M. G. Flokstra, J. P. Pekola, and T. M. Klapwijk Physical Review B 85, 224503 (2012).
Address
Corporate Author Thesis
Publisher Place of Publication Editor
Language Summary Language Original Title
Series Editor Series Title Abbreviated Series Title
Series Volume Series Issue Edition
ISSN ISBN Medium
Area Expedition Conference
Notes Approved no
Call Number Serial 1159
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Author Yagoubov, P.; Gol'tsman, G.; Voronov, B.; Svechnikov, S.; Cherednichenko, S.; Gershenzon, E.; Belitsky, V.; Ekström, H.; Semenov, A.; Gousev, Yu.; Renk, K.
Title Quasioptical phonon-cooled NbN hot-electron bolometer mixer at THz frequencies Type Conference Article
Year 1996 Publication Proc. 7th Int. Symp. Space Terahertz Technol. Abbreviated Journal Proc. 7th Int. Symp. Space Terahertz Technol.
Volume Issue Pages 303-317
Keywords NbN HEB mixers
Abstract (up) In our experiments we tested phonon-cooled hot-electron bolometer (HEB) quasioptical mixer based on spiral antenna designed for 0.5-1.2 THz frequency band and fabricated on sapphire, Si-coated sapphire and high resistivity silicon substrates. HEB devices were produced from thin superconducting NbN film 3.5-6 nm thick with the critical temperature of about 11-12 K. For these devices we achieved the receiver noise temperature T R (DSB) = 3000 K in the 500-700 GHz frequency range and an IF bandwidth of 3-4 GHz. Prelimanary measurements at frequencies 1-1.2 THz resulted the receiver noise temperature about 9000 K (DSB).
Address
Corporate Author Thesis
Publisher Place of Publication Editor
Language Summary Language Original Title
Series Editor Series Title Abbreviated Series Title
Series Volume Series Issue Edition
ISSN ISBN Medium
Area Expedition Conference
Notes Approved no
Call Number Serial 1614
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Author Yagoubov, P.; Kroug, M.; Merkel, H.; Kollberg, E.; Gol'tsman, G.; Svechnikov, S.; Gershenzon, E.
Title Noise temperature and local oscillator power requirement of NbN phonon-cooled hot electron bolometric mixers at terahertz frequencies Type Journal Article
Year 1998 Publication Appl. Phys. Lett. Abbreviated Journal Appl. Phys. Lett.
Volume 73 Issue 19 Pages 2814-2816
Keywords NbN HEB mixers, noise temperature, local oscillator power
Abstract (up) In this letter, the noise performance of NbN-based phonon-cooled hot electron bolometric quasioptical mixers is investigated in the 0.55–1.1 THz frequency range. The best results of the double-sideband <cd><2018>DSB<cd><2019> noise temperature are: 500 K at 640 GHz, 600 K at 750 GHz, 850 K at 910 GHz, and 1250 K at 1.1 THz. The water vapor in the signal path causes significant contribution to the measured receiver noise temperature around 1.1 THz. The devices are made from 3-nm-thick NbN film on high-resistivity Si and integrated with a planar spiral antenna on the same substrate. The in-plane dimensions of the bolometer strip are typically 0.2Ï«2 um. The amount of local oscillator power absorbed in the bolometer is less than 100 nW.
Address
Corporate Author Thesis
Publisher Place of Publication Editor
Language Summary Language Original Title
Series Editor Series Title Abbreviated Series Title
Series Volume Series Issue Edition
ISSN ISBN Medium
Area Expedition Conference
Notes Approved no
Call Number Serial 911
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Author Merkel, H. F.; Yagoubov, P. A.; Kroug, M.; Khosropanah, P.; Kollberg, E. L.; Gol’tsman, G. N.; Gershenzon, E. M.
Title Noise temperature and absorbed LO power measurement methods for NbN phonon-cooled hot electron bolometric mixers at terahertz frequencies Type Conference Article
Year 1998 Publication Proc. 28th European Microwave Conf. Abbreviated Journal Proc. 28th European Microwave Conf.
Volume 1 Issue Pages 294-299
Keywords NbN HEB mixers
Abstract (up) In this paper the absorbed LO power requirements and the noise performance of NbN based phonon-cooled hot electron bolometric (HEB) quasioptical mixers are investigated for RF frequencies in the 0.55-1.1 range The minimal measured DSB noise temperatures are about 500 K at 640 GHz, 600 K at 750 GHz, 850 K at 910 GHz and 1250 K at 1.1 THz. The increase in noise temperature at 1.1THz is attributed to water absorption. The absorbed LO power is measured using a calorimetric approach. The results are subsequently corrected for lattice heating. These values are compared to results of a novel one dimensional hot spot mixer models and to a more traditional isotherm method which tends to underestimate the absorbed LO power for small bias powers. Typically a LO power between 50nW and 100nW is needed to pump the device to the optimal operating point.
Address
Corporate Author Thesis
Publisher Place of Publication Editor
Language Summary Language Original Title
Series Editor Series Title Abbreviated Series Title
Series Volume Series Issue Edition
ISSN ISBN Medium
Area Expedition Conference 28th European Microwave Conference
Notes Approved no
Call Number Serial 1580
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Author Kooi, J. W.; Baselmans, J. J. A.; Baryshev, A.; Schieder, R.; Hajenius, M.; Gao, J.R.; Klapwijk, T. M.; Voronov, B.; Gol’tsman, G.
Title Stability of heterodyne terahertz receivers Type Journal Article
Year 2006 Publication J. Appl. Phys. Abbreviated Journal J. Appl. Phys.
Volume 100 Issue 6 Pages 064904 (1 to 9)
Keywords NbN HEB mixers
Abstract (up) In this paper we discuss the stability of heterodyne terahertz receivers based on small volume NbN phonon cooled hot electron bolometers (HEBs). The stability of these receivers can be broken down in two parts: the intrinsic stability of the HEB mixer and the stability of the local oscillator (LO) signal injection scheme. Measurements show that the HEB mixer stability is limited by gain fluctuations with a 1∕f spectral distribution. In a 60MHz noise bandwidth this results in an Allan variance stability time of ∼0.3s. Measurement of the spectroscopic Allan variance between two intermediate frequency (IF) channels results in a much longer Allan variance stability time, i.e., 3s between a 2.5 and a 4.7GHz channel, and even longer for more closely spaced channels. This implies that the HEB mixer 1∕f noise is strongly correlated across the IF band and that the correlation gets stronger the closer the IF channels are spaced. In the second part of the paper we discuss atmospheric and mechanical system stability requirements on the LO-mixer cavity path length. We calculate the mixer output noise fluctuations as a result of small perturbations of the LO-mixer standing wave, and find very stringent mechanical and atmospheric tolerance requirements for receivers operating at terahertz frequencies.
Address
Corporate Author Thesis
Publisher Place of Publication Editor
Language Summary Language Original Title
Series Editor Series Title Abbreviated Series Title
Series Volume Series Issue Edition
ISSN 0021-8979 ISBN Medium
Area Expedition Conference
Notes Approved no
Call Number Serial 1444
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Author Jiang, L.; Antipov, S. V.; Voronov, B. M.; Gol'tsman, G. N.; Zhang, W.; Li, N.; Lin, Z. H.; Yao, Q. J.; Miao, W.; Shi, S. C.; Svechnikov, S. I.; Vakhtomin, Y. B.
Title Characterization of the performance of a quasi-optical NbN superconducting HEB mixer Type Journal Article
Year 2007 Publication IEEE Trans. Appl. Supercond. Abbreviated Journal IEEE Trans. Appl. Supercond.
Volume 17 Issue 2 Pages 395-398
Keywords NbN HEB mixers, noise temperature
Abstract (up) In this paper we focus mainly on the investigation of the performance of a quasi-optical (planar log-spiral antenna) phonon-cooled NbN superconducting hot electron bolometer (HEB) mixer, which is cryogenically cooled by a close-cycled 4-K cryocooler, at 500 and 850 GHz frequency bands. The mixer's noise performance, stability of IF output power, and local oscillator (LO) power requirement are characterized for three NbN superconducting HEB devices of different sizes. The transmission characteristics of Mylar and Zitex films with incidence waves of an elliptical polarization are also examined by measuring the mixer's noise temperature. The lowest receiver noise temperatures (with no corrections) of 750 and 1100 K are measured at 500 and 850 GHz, respectively. Experimental results also demonstrate that the bigger the HEB device is, the higher the stability of IF output power becomes.
Address
Corporate Author Thesis
Publisher Place of Publication Editor
Language Summary Language Original Title
Series Editor Series Title Abbreviated Series Title
Series Volume Series Issue Edition
ISSN 1051-8223 ISBN Medium
Area Expedition Conference
Notes Approved no
Call Number Serial 1429
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