Merkel, H. F., Yagoubov, P. A., Kroug, M., Khosropanah, P., Kollberg, E. L., Gol’tsman, G. N., et al. (1998). Noise temperature and absorbed LO power measurement methods for NbN phonon-cooled hot electron bolometric mixers at terahertz frequencies. In Proc. 28th European Microwave Conf. (Vol. 1, pp. 294–299).
Abstract: 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.
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Cherednichenko, S., Yagoubov, P., Il'in, K., Gol'tsman, G., & Gershenzon, E. (1997). Large bandwidth of NbN phonon-cooled hot-electron bolometer mixers. In Proc. 27th Eur. Microwave Conf. (Vol. 2, pp. 972–977). IEEE.
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.
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Gol’tsman, G. N. (1994). Terahertz technology in Russia. In 24th European Microwave Conf. (Vol. 1, pp. 113–121).
Abstract: The presentation consider the parameters and operating peculiarities of unique microwave generators of the terahertz range which have been created in Russia – the backward wave oscillators – as well as certain devices based on these generators, such as high resolution. spectrometers and time-resolving spectrometers with picosecond temporal resolution. Most resent BWO-based studies are illustrated by a project devoted to superconductive hot-electron. bolometers which are of great independent value for the terahertz technology as high-sensitive picosecond detectors and low noise broad-band mixers.
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Maslennikova, A., Larionov, P., Ryabchun, S., Smirnov, A., Pentin, I., Vakhtomin, Y., et al. (2011). Noise equivalent power and dynamic range of NBN hot-electron bolometers. In Proc. MLPLIT (pp. 146–148). Modern laser physics and laser-information technologies for science and manufacture.
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Gol’tsman, G. N., & Gershenzon, E. M. (1993). High speed hot-electron superconducting bolometer. In J. R. Birch, & T. J. Parker (Eds.), Proc. SPIE (Vol. 2104, pp. 181–182). SPIE.
Abstract: Physical limitation of response time of a superconducting bolometer as well as the nature of non-equilibrium detection of radiation have been investigated for Al, Nb and NbN thin films in spectral range from submillimeter to near-infraredwavelengths [1,2]. In the case of ideal heat removal from the film with the f_‘. 100A thickness the detection mechanism is an electron heating effect that is not selective to radiation wavelength in a very broad range. The response time ofan electron heating bolometer is determined by an electron-phonon interaction time. This time is of about 10 ns, 0.5 ns and 20 ps for Al, Nb, and NbN correspondingly near the critical temperature of the superconducting film. Thesensitive area of the bolometer consists of a number of narrow strips (with awidth of 1µm) connected in parallel to contact pads; these pads together witha sapphire substrate and a ground plate represent the microstrip transmissionline with an impedance of 50 Q.
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Danerud, M., Winkler, D., Zorin, M., Trifonov, V., Karasik, B., Gershenzon, E. M., et al. (1993). Picosecond detection of infrared radiation with YBa2Cu3O7-δ thin films. In J. R. Birch, & T. J. Parker (Eds.), Proc. SPIE (Vol. 2104, pp. 183–184). Spie.
Abstract: Picosecond nonequilibrium and slow bolometric responses from a patterned high-Tc superconducting (HTS) film due toinfrared radiation were investigated using both modulation and pulse techniques. Measurements at A, = 0.85 [tm andA, = 10.6 lim have shown a similar behaviour of the response vs modulation frequency f. The responsivity of the HTS filmbased detector at f ..- 0.6-1 GHz is estimated to be 10-2 – 10-1 V/W.
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Hajenius, M., Baselmans, J. J. A., Gao, J. R., Klapwijk, T. M., de Korte, P. A. J., Voronov, B., et al. (2004). Low noise NbN superconducting hot electron bolometer mixers at 1.9 and 2.5 THz. Supercond. Sci. Technol., 17(5), S224–S228.
Abstract: NbN phonon-cooled hot electron bolometer mixers (HEBs) have been realized with negligible contact resistance between the bolometer itself and the contact structure. Using a combination of in situ cleaning of the NbN film and the use of an additional superconducting interlayer of a 10 nm NbTiN layer between the Au of the contact structure and the NbN film superior noise temperatures have been obtained as low as 950 K at 2.5 THz and 750 K at 1.9 THz. Here we address in detail the DC characterization of these devices, the interface transparencies between the bolometers and the contacts and the consequences of these factors on the mixer performance.
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Finkel, M. I., Maslennikov, S. N., & Gol'tsman, G. N. (2007). The concept of the receiving complex for the “Millimetron” space radio telescope. Radiophys. Quant. Electron., 50(10-11), 837–846.
Abstract: We consider the current status of research in the development of a submillimeter and far-infrared receiving instrument and propose promising solutions for the receivers of the spaceborne telescope “Millimetron,” which allow one to realize comprehensively the opportunities given by this international project administrated by the Astrospace Center of the P. N. Lebedev Physical Institute of the Russian Academy of Sciences.
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Ryabchun, S. A., Tretyakov, I. V., Finkel, M. I., Maslennikov, S. N., Kaurova, N. S., Seleznev, V. A., et al. (2008). Fabrication and characterisation of NbN HEB mixers with in situ gold contacts. In Proc. 19th Int. Symp. Space Terahertz Technol. (pp. 62–67). Groningen, Netherlands.
Abstract: We present our recent results of the fabrication and testing of NbN hot-electron bolometer mixers with in situ gold contacts. An intermediate frequency bandwidth of about 6 GHz has been measured for the mixers made of a 3.5-nm NbN film on a plane Si substrate with in situ gold contacts, compared to 3.5 GHz for devices made of the same film with ex situ gold contacts. The increase in the intermediate frequency bandwidth is attributed to additional diffusion cooling through the improved contacts, which is further supported by the its dependence on the bridge length: intermediate frequency bandwidths of 3.5 GHz and 6 GHz have been measured for devices with lengths of 0.35 μm and 0.16 μm respectively at a local oscillator frequency of 300 GHz near the superconducting transition. At a local oscillator frequency of 2.5 THz the receiver has offered a DSB noise temperature of 950 K. When compared to the previous result of 1300 K obtained at the same local oscillator frequency for devices fabricated with an ex situ route, such a low value of the noise temperature may also be attributed to the improved gold contacts.
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Semenov, A. D., Gol'tsman, G. N., & Sobolewski, R. (2002). Hot-electron effect in superconductors and its applications for radiation sensors. Supercond. Sci. Technol., 15(4), R1–R16.
Abstract: The paper reviews the main aspects of nonequilibrium hot-electron phenomena in superconductors and various theoretical models developed to describe the hot-electron effect. We discuss implementation of the hot-electron avalanche mechanism in superconducting radiation sensors and present the most successful practical devices, such as terahertz mixers and direct intensity detectors, for far-infrared radiation. Our presentation also includes the novel approach to hot-electron quantum detection implemented in superconducting x-ray to optical photon counters.
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Smirnov, A. V., Larionov, P. A., Finkel, M. I., Maslennikov, S. N., Voronov, B. M., & Gol'tsman, G. N. (2008). NbZr films for THz phonon-cooled HEB mixers. In Proc. 19th Int. Symp. Space Terahertz Technol. (pp. 44–47). Groningen, Netherlands.
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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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Finkel, M. I., Maslennikov, S. N., Vachtomin, Y. B., Svechnikov, S. I., Smirnov, K. V., Seleznev, V. A., et al. (2005). Hot electron bolometer mixer for 20 – 40 THz frequency range. In Proc. 16th Int. Symp. Space Terahertz Technol. (pp. 393–397). Göteborg, Sweden.
Abstract: The developed HEB mixer was based on a 5 nm thick NbN film deposited on a GaAs substrate. The active area of the film was patterned as a 30×20 μm 2 strip and coupled with a 50 Ohm coplanar line deposited in situ. An extended hemispherical germanium lens was used to focus the LO radiation on the mixer. The responsivity of the mixer was measured in a direct detection mode in the 25÷64 THz frequency range. The noise performance of the mixer and the directivity of the receiver were investigated in a heterodyne mode. A 10.6 μm wavelength CW CO 2 laser was utilized as a local oscillator.
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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 HEB슠mixer as a function of its RF슠embedding impedance. IEEE Trans. Appl. Supercond., 15(2), 472–475.
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