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: We present an analysis of a diffusion-cooled hot-electron detector fabricated from clean superconducting material with low transition temperature. The distinctive feature of a clean material, i.e., material with large electron mean free path, is a relatively weak inelastic electron scattering that is not sufficient for the establishment of an elevated thermodynamic electron temperature when the detector is subjected to irradiation. We propose an athermal model of a diffusion-cooled detector that relies on suppression of the superconducting energy gap by the actual dynamic distribution of excess quasiparticles. The resistive state of the device is caused by the electric field penetrating into the superconducting bridge from metal contacts. The dependence of the penetration length on the energy gap delivers the detection mechanism. The sources of the electric noise are equilibrium fluctuations of the number of thermal quasiparticles and frequency dependent shot noise. Using material parameters typical for A1, we evaluate performance of the device in the heterodyne regime at terahertz frequencies. Estimates show that the mixer may have a noise temperature of a few quantum limits and a bandwidth of a few tens of GHz, while the required local oscillator power is in the μW range due to ineffective suppression of the energy gap by quasiparticles with high energies.

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: In this paper, we report about the development, fabrication, and characterization of a balanced waveguide hot electron bolometer (HEB) receiver for the Atacama Pathfinder EXperiment telescope covering the frequency band of 1.25–1.39 THz. The receiver uses a quadrature balanced scheme and two HEB mixers, fabricated from 4- to 5-nm-thick NbN film deposited on crystalline quartz substrate with an MgO buffer layer in between. We employed a novel micromachining method to produce all-metal waveguide parts at submicrometer accuracy (the main-mode waveguide dimensions are 90×180 μm). We present details on the mixer design and measurement results, including receiver noise performance, stability and “first-light” at the telescope site. The receiver yields a double-sideband noise temperature averaged over the RF band below 1200 K, and outstanding stability with a spectroscopic Allan time more than 200 s.

Abstract: In this paper, we describe a superconductive hot-electron-bolometer mixer receiver designed to operate in the partially transmissive 350-μm atmospheric window. The receiver employs an NbN thin-film microbridge as the mixer element, in which the main cooling mechanism of the hot electrons is through electron-phonon interaction. At a local-oscillator frequency of 808 GHz, the measured double-sideband receiver noise temperature is TRX=970 K, across a 1-GHz intermediate-frequency bandwidth centered at 1.8 GHz. We have measured the linearity of the receiver and the amount of local-oscillator power incident on the mixer for optimal operation, which is PLO≈1 μW. This receiver was used in making observations as a facility instrument at the Heinrich Hertz Telescope, Mt. Graham, AZ, during the 1998-1999 winter observing season.