Abstract: Closing of the so-called terahertz gap results in an increased demand for optoelectronic devices operating in the frequency range from 0.1 to 10 THz. Active plasmonic in field effect devices based on high-mobility two-dimensional electron gas (2DEG) opens up opportunities for creation of on-chip spectrum [1] and polarization [2] analysers. Here we show that single layer graphene (SLG) grown using CVD method can be used for an all-electric helicity sensitive polarization broad analyser of THz radiation. Allourresults show plasmonic nature of response. Devices are made in a configuration ofa field-effect transistor (FET) with a graphene channel that has a length of 2 mkm and a width of 5.5 mkm. Response of opposite polarity to clockwise and anticlockwise polarized radiation is due to special antenna design (see Fig.1c) as follow works [2,3]. Our approaches can be extrapolated to other 2D materials and used as a tool to characterize plasmonic excitations in them. [1]Bandurin, D. A., etal.,Nature Communications, 9(1),(2018),1-8.[2]Drexler, C.,etal.,Journal of Applied Physics, 111(12),(2012),124504.[3]Gorbenko, I. V.,et al.,physica status solidi (RRL)–Rapid Research Letters, 13(3),(2019),1800464.

Abstract: In this paper, we report the performance of a quasi-optical NbN superconducting HEB (hot electron bolome-ter) mixer measured at 500 GHz. The quasi-optical NbN superconducting HEB mixer is cryogenically cooled bya 4-K close-cycled refrigerator. Its receiver noise temperature and conversion gain are thoroughly investigatedfor different LO pumping levels and dc biases. The lowest receiver noise temperature is found to be approxi-mately 1200 K, and reduced to about 445 K after correcting theloss of the measurement system. The stabilityof the mixer’s IF output power is also demonstrated.

Abstract: The bandwidth of NbN phonon-cooled hot electron bolometer mixers has been systematically investigated with respect to the film thickness and film quality variation. The films, 2.5 to 10 nm thick, were fabricated on sapphire substrates using DC reactive magnetron sputtering. All devices consisted of several parallel strips, each 1 um wide and 2 um long, placed between Ti-Au contact pads. To measure the gain bandwidth we used two identical BWOs operating in the 120-140 GHz frequency range, one functioning as a local oscillator and the other as a signal source. The majority of the measurements were made at an ambient temperature of 4.2 K with optimal LO and DC bias. The maximum 3 dB bandwidth (about 4 GHz) was achieved for the devices made of films which were 2.5-3.5 nm thick, had a high critical temperature, and high critical current density. A theoretical analysis of bandwidth for these mixers based on the two-temperature model gives a good description of the experimental results if one assumes that the electron temperature is equal to the critical temperature.

Abstract: To put space-based and airborne heterodyne instruments into operation at frequencies above 1 THz the superconducting NbN hot-electron bolometer (HEB) will be incorporated into heterodyne receiver as a mixer. At frequencies above 1.3 THz the sensitivity of the NbN HEB mixers outperform the one of the Schottky diodes and SIS-mixers, and the receiver noise temperature of the NbN HEB mixers increase with frequency. In this paper we present the results of the noise temperature measurements within one batch of NbN HEB mixers based on 3.5 mn thick superconducting NbN film grown on Si substrate with MgO buffer layer at the LO frequencies 2.5 THz and 3.8 THz.