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Tong, C. Edward; Trifonov, Andrey; Blundell, Raymond; Shurakov, Alexander; Gol’tsman, Gregory |
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A digital terahertz power meter based on an NbN thin film |
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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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170 |
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waveguide NbN HEB mixers |
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We have further studied the effect of subjecting a superconducting Hot Electron Bolometer (HEB) element made from an NbN thin film to microwave radiation. Since the photon energy is weak, the microwave radiation does not simply heat the film, but generates a bi-static state, switching between the superconducting and normal states, upon the application of a small voltage bias. Indeed, a relaxation oscillation of a few MHz has previously been reported in this regime [1]. Switching between the superconducting and normal states modulates the reflected microwave pump power from the device. A simple homodyne setup readily recovers the spontaneous switching waveform in the time domain. The switching frequency is a function of both the bias voltage (DC heating) and the applied microwave power. In this work, we use a 0.8 THz HEB waveguide mixer for the purpose of demonstration. The applied microwave pump, coupled through a directional coupler, is at 1 GHz. Since the pump power is of the order of a few μW, a room temperature amplifier is sufficient to amplify the reflected pump power from the HEB mixer, which beats with the microwave source in a homodyne set-up. After further amplification, the switching waveform is passed onto a frequency counter. The typical frequency of the switching pulses is 3-5 MHz. It is found that the digital frequency count increases with higher microwave pump power. When the HEB mixer is subjected to additional optical power at 0.8 THz, the frequency count also increases. When we vary the incident optical power by using a wire grid attenuator, a linear relationship is observed between the frequency count and the applied optical power, over at least an order of magnitude of power. This phenomenon can be exploited to develop a digital power meter, using a very simple electronics setup. Further experiments are under way to determine the range of linearity and the accuracy of calibration transfer from the microwave to the THz regime. References 1. Y. Zhuang, and S. Yngvesson, “Detection and interpretation of bistatic effects in NbN HEB devices,” Proc. 13 th Int. Symp. Space THz Tech., 2002, pp. 463–472. |
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1366 |
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Lobanov, Yury V.; Tong, Cheuk-yu E.; Hedden, Abigail S.; Blundell, Raymond; Gol’tsman, Gregory N. |
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Title |
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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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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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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Kawamura, Jonathan; Blundell, Raymond; Tong, C.-Y. Edward; Papa, D. Cosmo; Hunter, Todd R.; Gol'tsman, Gregory; Cherednichenko, Sergei; Voronov, Boris; Gershenzon, Eugene |
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First light with an 800 GHz phonon-cooled HEB mixer receiver |
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1998 |
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Proc. 9th Int. Symp. Space Terahertz Technol. |
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Proc. 9th Int. Symp. Space Terahertz Technol. |
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35-43 |
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HEB, mixer, LO power, local oscillator power, saturation effect, dynamic range |
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Phonon-cooled superconductive hot-electron bolometric (HEB) mixers are incorporated in a waveguide receiver designed to operate near 800 Gliz. The mixer elements are thin-film nio- bium nitride microbridges with dimensions of 4 nm thickness, 0.2 to 0.3 p.m in length and 2 jun in width. At 780 GHz the best receiver noise temperature is 840 K (DSB). The mixer IF bandwidth is 2.0 GHz, the absorbed LO power is —0.1 1.1W. A fixed-tuned version of the re- ceiver was installed at the Submillimeter Telescope Observatory on Mt. Graham, Arizona, to conduct astronomical observations. These observations represent the first time that a receiver incorporating any superconducting HEB mixer has been used to detect a spectral line of celes- tial origin. |
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Pasadena, California, USA |
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572 |
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