Abstract: We present a detailed experimental study of the direct detection effect in a small volume (0.15μm×1μm×3.5nm) quasioptical NbN phonon cooled hot electron bolometer mixer at 673GHz. We find that the small signal noise temperature, relevant for an astronomical observation, is 20% lower than the noise temperature obtained using 300 and 77K calibration loads. In a separate set of experiments we show that the direct detection effect is caused by a combination of bias current reduction when switching from the 77 to the 300K
load in combination with the bias current dependence of the receiver gain. The bias current dependence of the receiver gain is shown to be mainly caused by the current dependence of the mixer gain.

Abstract: Epitaxial laser deposited YBa2Cu3O7−δ films of ∼50 nm thickness were patterned into detectors consisting of ten parallel 1 μm wide strips in order to study nonequilibrium and bolometric effects. Typically, the patterned samples had critical temperatures around 86 K, transition widths around 2 K and critical current densities above 1×106A/cm2 at 77 K. Pulsed laser measurements at 0.8 μm wavelength (17 ps full width at half maximum) showed a ∼30 ps response, attributed to electron heating, followed by a slower bolometric decay. Amplitude modulation in the band fmod=100 kHz–10 GHz of a laser with wavelength λ=0.8 μm showed two different thermal relaxations in the photoresponse. Phonon escape from the film (∼3 ns) is the limiting process, followed by heat diffusion in the substrate. Similar relaxations were also seen for λ=10.6 μm. The photoresponse measurements were made with the film in the resistive state and extended into the normal state. These states were created by supercritical bias currents. Measurements between 75 and 95 K (i.e., from below to above Tc) showed that the photoresponse was proportional to dR/dT for fmod=1 MHz and 4 GHz. The fast response is limited by the electron‐phonon scattering time, estimated to 1.8 ps from experimental data. The responsivity both at 0.8 and 10.6 μm wavelength was ∼1.2 V/W at fmod=1 GHz and the noise equivalent power was calculated to 1.5×10−9 WHz−1/2 for the fast response.

Abstract: An ultrafast detector that is sensitive to radiation in a broad spectral range from submillimeter waves to visible light is reported. It consists of a structured NbN thin film cooled to a temperature below Tc (∼11 K). Using 20 ps pulses of a GaAs laser, we observed signal pulses with both rise and decay time of about 50 ps. From the analysis of a mixing experiment with submillimeter radiation we estimate an intrinsic response time of the detector of ∼12 ps. The sensitivity was found to be similar for the near‐infrared and submillimeter radiation. Broadband sensitivity and short response time are attributed to a quasiparticle heating effect.

Abstract: A study is reported of the current switching in high‐quality YBaCuO films deposited onto NdGaO3 and ZrO2 substrates between superconducting (S) and normal (N) states. The films 60–120 nm thick prepared by laser ablation were structured into single strips between gold contacts. The time dependence of the resistance after application of the voltage step to the film was monitored. Experiment performed within certain ranges of voltage amplitudes and temperatures has shown the occurrence of the fast stage (shorter than 400 ps) both in S‐N and N‐S transitions. A fraction of the film resistance changing within this stage in the S‐N transition increases with the current amplitude. A subnanosecond N‐S stage becomes more pronounced for shorter pulses. The fast switching is followed by the much slower change of resistance. The mechanism of switching is discussed in terms of the hot‐electron phenomena in YBaCuO. The contributions of other thermal processes (e.g., a phonon escape from the film, a heat diffusion in the film and substrate, a resistive domain formation) in the subsequent stage of the resistance dynamic have been also discussed. The basic limiting characteristics (average dissipated power, energy needed for switching, maximum repetition rate) of a picosecond switch which is proposed to be developed are estimated.

Abstract: 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.