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Author |
Semenov, A. D.; Gol’tsman, G. N. |
Title |
Nonthermal mixing mechanism in a diffusion-cooled hot-electron detector |
Type |
Journal Article |
Year |
2000 |
Publication |
J. Appl. Phys. |
Abbreviated Journal |
J. Appl. Phys. |
Volume |
87 |
Issue |
1 |
Pages |
502-510 |
Keywords |
NbN HEB mixers, nonthermal |
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. |
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0021-8979 |
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1558 |
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Author |
Baselmans, J.; Kooi, J.; Baryshev, A.; Yang, Z. Q.; Hajenius, M.; Gao, J. R.; Klapwijk, T. M.; Voronov, B.; Gol’tsman, G. |
Title |
Full characterization of small volume NbN HEB mixers for space applications |
Type |
Conference Article |
Year |
2005 |
Publication |
Proc. 16th Int. Symp. Space Terahertz Technol. |
Abbreviated Journal |
Proc. 16th Int. Symp. Space Terahertz Technol. |
Volume |
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Issue |
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Pages |
457-462 |
Keywords |
NbN HEB mixers |
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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Göteborg, Sweden |
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363 |
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Finkel, M. I.; Maslennikov, S. N.; Vachtomin, Yu. B.; Svechnikov, S. I.; Smirnov, K. V.; Seleznev, V. A.; Korotetskaya, Yu. P.; Kaurova, N. S.; Voronov, B. M.; Gol'tsman, G. N. |
Title |
Hot electron bolometer mixer for 20 – 40 THz frequency range |
Type |
Conference Article |
Year |
2005 |
Publication |
Proc. 16th Int. Symp. Space Terahertz Technol. |
Abbreviated Journal |
Proc. 16th Int. Symp. Space Terahertz Technol. |
Volume |
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Issue |
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Pages |
393-397 |
Keywords |
IR NbN HEB mixers |
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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Göteborg, Sweden |
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369 |
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Author |
Gol'tsman, Gregory N.; Vachtomin, Yuriy B.; Antipov, Sergey V.; Finkel, Matvey I.; Maslennikov, Sergey N.; Smirnov, Konstantin V.; Polyakov, Stanislav L.; Svechnikov, Sergey I.; Kaurova, Natalia S.; Grishina, Elisaveta V.; Voronov, Boris M. |
Title |
NbN phonon-cooled hot-electron bolometer mixer for terahertz heterodyne receivers |
Type |
Conference Article |
Year |
2005 |
Publication |
Proc. SPIE |
Abbreviated Journal |
Proc. SPIE |
Volume |
5727 |
Issue |
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Pages |
95-106 |
Keywords |
NbN HEB mixers |
Abstract |
We present the results of our studies of NbN phonon-cooled HEB mixers at terahertz frequencies. The mixers were fabricated from NbN film deposited on a high-resistivity Si substrate with an MgO buffer layer. The mixer element was integrated with a log-periodic spiral antenna. The noise temperature measurements were performed at 2.5 THz and at 3.8 THz local oscillator frequencies for the 3 x 0.2 μm2 active area devices. The best uncorrected receiver noise temperatures found for these frequencies are 1300 K and 3100 K, respectively. A water vapour discharge laser was used as the LO source. The largest gain bandwidth of 5.2 GHz was achieved for a mixer based on 2 nm thick NbN film deposited on MgO layer over Si substrate. The gain bandwidth of the mixer based on 3.5 nm NbN film deposited on Si with MgO is 4.2 GHz and the noise bandwidth for the same device amounts to 5 GHz. We also present the results of our research into decrease of the direct detection contribution to the measured Y-factor and a possible error of noise temperature calculation. The use of a square nickel cell mesh as an IR-filter enabled us to avoid the effect of direct detection and measure apparent value of the noise temperature which was 16% less than that obtained using conventional black polyethylene IR-filter. |
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Terahertz and Gigahertz Electronics and Photonics IV |
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Serial |
378 |
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Author |
Maslennikov, S. N.; Finkel, M. I.; Antipov, S. V.; Polyakov, S. L.; Zhang, W.; Ozhegov, R.; Vachtomin, Yu. B.; Svechnikov, S. I.; Smirnov, K. V.; Korotetskaya, Yu. P.; Kaurova, N. S.; Gol'tsman, G. N.; Voronov, B. M. |
Title |
Spiral antenna coupled and directly coupled NbN HEB mixers in the frequency range from 1 to 70 THz |
Type |
Conference Article |
Year |
2006 |
Publication |
Proc. 17th Int. Symp. Space Terahertz Technol. |
Abbreviated Journal |
Proc. 17th Int. Symp. Space Terahertz Technol. |
Volume |
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Issue |
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Pages |
177-179 |
Keywords |
directly coupled NbN HEB mixers |
Abstract |
We investigate both antenna coupled and directly coupled HEB mixers at several LO frequencies within the range of 2.5 THz to 70 THz. H20 (2.5+10.7 THz), and CO2 (30 THz) gas discharge lasers are used as the local oscillators. The noise temperature of antenna coupled mixers is measured at LO frequencies of 2.5 THz, 3.8 THz, and 30 THz. The results for both antenna coupled and directly coupled mixer types are compared. The devices with in—plane dimensions of 5x5 ,um 2 are pumped by LO radiation at 10.7 THz. The directly coupled HEB demonstrates nearly flat dependence of responsivity on frequency in the range of 25+64 THz. |
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Paris, France |
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386 |
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