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Baubert, J., Salez, M., Merkel, H., Pons, P., Cherednichenko, S., Lecomte, B., et al. (2005). IF gain bandwidth of membrane-based NbN hot electron bolometers for SHAHIRA. IEEE Trans. Appl. Supercond., 15(2), 507–510.
Abstract: SHAHIRA (Submm Heterodyne Array for HIgh-speed Radio Astronomy) is a project supported by the European Space Agency (ESA) and is designed to fly on the SOFIA observatory. A quasi-optic design has been chosen for 2.5/2.7 THz and 4.7 THz, for hydroxyde radical OH, deuterated hydrogen HD and neutral atomic oxygen OI lines observations. Hot electron bolometers (HEBs) have been processed on 1 /spl mu/m thick SiO/sub 2//Si/sub 3/N/sub 4/ stress-less membranes. In this paper we analyse the intermediate frequency (IF) gain bandwidth from the theoretical point of view, and compare it to measurements.
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Jiang, L., Li, J., Zhang, W., Yao, Q. J., Lin, Z. L., Shi, S. C., et al. (2005). Characterization of NbN HEB mixers cooled by a close-cycled 4 Kelvin refrigerator. IEEE Trans. Appl. Supercond., 15(2), 511–513.
Abstract: It is quite beneficial to operate superconducting hot-electron-bolometer (HEB) mixers with a close-cycled 4 Kelvin refrigerator for real applications such as astronomy and atmospheric research. In this paper, a phononcooled NbN HEB mixer (quasioptical type) is thoroughly characterized under such a cooling circumstance. The effects of mechanical vibration, electrical interference, and temperature fluctuation of a two-stage Gifford-McMahon 4 Kelvin refrigerator upon the characteristics of the phononcooled NbN HEB mixer are investigated in particular. Detailed measurement results are presented.
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Gol’tsman, G. N., Smirnov, K., Kouminov, P., Voronov, B., Kaurova, N., Drakinsky, V., et al. (2003). Fabrication of nanostructured superconducting single-photon detectors. IEEE Trans. Appl. Supercond., 13(2), 192–195.
Abstract: Fabrication of NbN superconducting single-photon detectors, based on the hotspot effect is presented. The hotspot formation arises in an ultrathin and submicrometer-width superconductor stripe and, together with the supercurrent redistribution, leads to the resistive detector response upon absorption of a photon. The detector has a meander structure to maximally increase its active area and reach the highest detection efficiency. Main processing steps, leading to efficient devices, sensitive in 0.4-5 /spl mu/m wavelength range, are presented. The impact of various processing steps on the performance and operational parameters of our detectors is discussed.
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Il'in, K. S., Currie, M., Lindgren, M., Milostnaya, I. I., Verevkin, A. A., Gol'tsman, G. N., et al. (1999). Quantum efficiency and time-domain response of superconducting NbN hot-electron photodetectors. IEEE Trans. Appl. Supercond., 9(2), 3338–3341.
Abstract: We report our studies on the response of ultrathin superconducting NbN hot-electron photodetectors. We have measured the photoresponse of few-nm-thick, micron-size structures, which consisted of single and multiple microbridges, to radiation from the continuous-wave semiconductor laser and the femtosecond Ti:sapphire laser with the wavelength of 790 nm and 400 nm, respectively. The maximum responsivity was observed near the film's superconducting transition with the device optimally current-biased in the resistive state. The responsivity of the detector, normalized to its illuminated area and the coupling factor, was 220 A/W(3/spl times/10/sup 4/ V/W), which corresponded to a quantum efficiency of 340. The responsivity was wavelength independent from the far infrared to the ultraviolet range, and was at least two orders of magnitude higher than comparable semiconductor optical detectors. The time constant of the photoresponse signal was 45 ps, when was measured at 2.15 K in the resistive (switched) state using a cryogenic electro-optical sampling technique with subpicosecond resolution. The obtained results agree very well with our calculations performed using a two-temperature model of the electron heating in thin superconducting films.
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Semenov, A. D., & Gol'tsman, G. N. (1999). Non-thermal response of a diffusion-cooled hot-electron bolometer. IEEE Trans. Appl. Supercond., 9(2), 4491–4494.
Abstract: We present an analysis of a diffusion-cooled hot-electron bolometer in the limiting case of a weak thermalization of non-equilibrium quasiparticles. We propose a new model relying on the non-thermal suppression of the superconducting energy gap by excess quasiparticles. Using material parameters typical for Al, we evaluate performance of the bolometer in the heterodyne regime at terahertz frequencies. Estimates show that the mixer may have quantum limited noise temperature and a few tens of GHz bandwidth, while the required local oscillator power is in the /spl mu/W range due to in-effective suppression of the energy gap by quasiparticles with high energies.
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