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Goizel, A., & Smith, D. (2005). Thermometry down to 300 mK for space instrumentation.
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Alda, J., Rico-García, J. M., López-Alonso, J. M., & Boreman, G. (2005). Optical antennas for nano-photonic applications. Nanotech., 16(5), S230–S234.
Abstract: Antenna-coupled optical detectors, also named optical antennas, are being developed and proposed as alternative detection devices for the millimetre, infrared, and visible spectra. Optical and infrared antennas represent a class of optical components that couple electromagnetic radiation in the visible and infrared wavelengths in the same way as radioelectric antennas do at the corresponding wavelengths. The size of optical antennas is in the range of the detected wavelength and they involve fabrication techniques with nanoscale spatial resolution. Optical antennas have already proved and potential advantages in the detection of light showing polarization dependence, tuneability, and rapid time response. They also can be considered as point detectors and directionally sensitive elements. So far, these detectors have been thoroughly tested in the mid-infrared with some positive results in the visible. The measurement and characterization of optical antennas requires the use of an experimental set-up with nanometric resolution. On the other hand, a computation simulation of the interaction between the material structures and the incoming electromagnetic radiation is needed to explore alternative designs of practical devices.
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González, F. J., & Boreman, G. D. (2005). Comparison of dipole, bowtie, spiral and log-periodic IR antennas. Inf Phys & Technol, 46(5), 418–428.
Abstract: Antenna-coupled microbolometers use planar lithographic antennas to couple infrared radiation into a bolometer with sub-micron dimensions. In this paper four different types of infrared antennas were fabricated on thin grounded-substrates and coupled to microbolometers. Dipole, bowtie, spiral and log-periodic IR antenna-coupled detectors were measured at 10.6 μm and their performance compared. A new method to calculate the radiation efficiency based on the spatial and angular response of infrared antennas is presented and used to evaluate their performance. The calculated radiation efficiency for the dipole, bowtie, spiral and log-periodic IR antennas was 20%, 37%, 25% and 46% respectively. A dipole-length study was performed and shows that the quasistatic value of the effective permittivity accurately describes the incident wavelength in the substrate at infrared frequencies for antennas on a thin substrate.
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Gonzalez, F. J., Ilic, B., Alda, J., & Boreman, G. D. (2005). Antenna-coupled infrared detectors for imaging applications. IEEE J. Sel. Topics Quantum Electron., 11(1), 117–120.
Abstract: Infrared focal plane arrays (IRFPAs) are a critical component in advanced infrared imaging systems. IRFPAs are made up of two parts, a detector array and a readout integrated circuit (ROIC) multiplexer. Current ROIC technology has typical pitch sizes of 20×20 to 50×50 μm2. In order to make antenna-coupled detectors suited for infrared imaging systems, two-dimensional (2-D) arrays have been fabricated that cover a whole pixel area with the penalty of increasing the noise figure of the detector and, therefore, reducing its performance. By coupling a Fresnel zone plate lens to a single element antenna-coupled detector, infrared radiation can be collected over a typical pixel area and still keep low-noise levels. A Fresnel zone plate lens coupled to a single-element square-spiral-coupled infrared detector has been fabricated and its performance compared to single element antenna-coupled detectors and 2-D arrays of antenna coupled detectors. Measurements made at 10.6 μm showed a two-order-of-magnitude increase in SNR and a ~× increase in D* as compared to 2-D arrays of antenna-coupled detectors.
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An, Z., Chen, J. - C., Ueda, T., Komiyama, S., & Hirakawa, K. (2005). Infrared phototransistor using capacitively coupled two-dimensional electron gas layers. Appl. Phys. Lett., 86, 172106-3.
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de Graauw, T., Caux, E., Guesten, R., Helmich, F., Pearson, J., Phillips, T. G., et al. (2005). The Herschel-heterodyne instrument for the far-infrared (HIFI). In Bulletin of the American Astronomical Society (1219). Bulletin of the American Astronomical Society, 37.
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Loudkov, D., Tong, C. - Y. E., Blundell, R., Kaurova, N., Grishina, E., Voronov, B., et al. (2005). An investigation of the performance of the superconducting HEB mixer as a function of its RF embedding impedance. IEEE Trans. Appl. Supercond., 15(2), 472–475.
Abstract: We have conducted an investigation of the optimal embedding impedance for a waveguide superconducting hot-electron bolometric (HEB) mixer. Three mixer chip designs for 800 GHz, offering nominal embedding resistances of 70 /spl Omega/, 35 /spl Omega/, and 15 /spl Omega/, have been developed. We used both High Frequency Structure Simulator (HFSS) software and scale model impedance measurements in the design process. We subsequently fabricated HEB mixers to these designs using 3-4 nm thick NbN thin film. Receiver noise temperature measurements and Fourier Transform Spectrometer (FTS) scans were performed to determine the optimal combination of embedding impedance and normal-state resistance for a 50 Ohm IF load impedance. A receiver noise temperature of 440 K was measured at a local oscillator frequency 850 GHz for a mixer with normal state resistance of 62 /spl Omega/ incorporated into a circuit offering a nominal embedding impedance of 70 /spl Omega/. We conclude from our data that, for low noise operation, the normal state resistance of the HEB mixer element should be close to the embedding impedance of the mixer mount.
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Yagoubov, P., van de Stadt, H., Hoogeveen, R., Koshelets, V., Birk, M., & Murk, A. (2005). OPTICAL DESIGN OF SUB-MILLIMETER SPECTROMETER FOR LIMB SOUNDER. International Symposium on Space Terahertz Technology, .
Abstract: TELIS (Terahertz and submm Limb Sounder) is a cooperation between DLR (Institute for Remote Sensing Technology, Germany), RAL (Rutherford Appleton Laboratories, UK) and SRON (National Institute for Space Research, the Netherlands), to build a three-channel balloon-borne heterodyne spectrometer for atmospheric research. The three receivers will operate simultaneously at 500 GHz (channel developed by RAL), at 550-650 GHz (SRON in collaboration with IREE), and at 1.8 THz (DLR). The balloon platform on which TELIS will fly also contains a Fourier transform spectrometer: MIPAS-B developed by the IMK (Institute of Meteorology and Climate research of the University of Karlsruhe, Germany). MIPAS-B will simultaneously measure within the range 680 to 2400 cm-1. The combination of the TELIS and MIPAS instruments will provide an unprecedented wealth of scientific data and will also be used to validate other instruments and atmospheric chemistry models. In this paper we present the optical design of TELIS with an emphasis on the 550-650 GHz channel. The main design goal was to generate a high efficiency antenna beam over the full frequency range, with low side lobes and close to diffraction limited angular resolution in the vertical direction at the sky. All these requirements had to be achieved within a small volume and low mass. Design and validation of the optics, as well as estimation of optical components tolerances, was done using commercial software packages ZEMAX and GRASP.
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Cherednichenko, S., Kollberg, E., Angelov, I., Drakinskiy, V., Berg, T., & Merkel, H. (2005). Effect of the direct detection effect on the HEB receiver sensitivity calibration. In Proc. 16th Int. Symp. Space Terahertz Technol. (pp. 235–239). Göteborg, Sweden.
Abstract: We analyze the scale of the HEB receiver sensitivity calibration error caused by the so called “direct detection effect”. The effect comes from changing of the HEB parameters when whey face the calibration loads of different temperatures. We found that for HIFI Band 6 mixers (Herschel Space Observatory) the noise temperature error is of the order of 8% for 300K/77K loads (lab receiver) and 2.5% for 100K/10K loads (in HIFI). Using different approach we also predict that with an isolator between the mixer and the low noise amplifiers the error can be much smaller.
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Baselmans, J., Kooi, J., Baryshev, A., Yang, Z. Q., Hajenius, M., Gao, J. R., et al. (2005). Full characterization of small volume NbN HEB mixers for space applications. In Proc. 16th Int. Symp. Space Terahertz Technol. (pp. 457–462). Göteborg, Sweden.
Abstract: NbN phonon cooled HEB’s are one of the most promising bolometer mixer technologies for (near) future (space) applications. Their performance is usually quantified by mea- suring the receiver noise temperature at a given IF frequency, usually around 1 – 2 GHz. However, for any real applications it is vital that one fully knows all the relevant properties of the mixer, including LO power, stability, direct detection, gain bandwidth and noise bandwidth, not only the noise temperature at low IF frequencies. To this aim we have measured all these parameters at the optimal operating point of one single, small volume quasioptical NbN HEB mixer. We find a minimum noise temperature of 900 K at 1.46 THz. We observe a direct detection effect indicated by a change in bias current when changing from a 300 K hot load to a 77 K cold load. Due to this effect we overestimate the noise temperature by about 22% using a 300 K hot load and a 77 K cold load. The LO power needed to reach the optimal operating point is 80 nW at the receiver lens front, 59 nW inside the NbN bridge. However, using the isothermal technique we find a power absorbed in the NbN bridge of 25 nW, a difference of about a factor 2. We obtain a gain bandwidth of 2.3 GHz and a noise bandwidth of 4 GHz. The system Allan time is about 1 sec. in a 50 MHz spectral bandwidth and a deviation from white noise integration (governed by the radiometer equation) occurs at 0.2 sec., which implies a maximum integration time of a few seconds in a 1 MHz bandwidth spectrometer.
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