Svechnikov, S. I., Okunev, O. V., Yagoubov, P. A., Gol'tsman, G. N., Voronov, B. M., Cherednichenko, S. I., et al. (1997). 2.5 THz NbN hot electron mixer with integrated tapered slot antenna. IEEE Trans. Appl. Supercond., 7(2), 3548–3551.
Abstract: A Hot Electron Bolometer (HEB) mixer for 2.5 THz utilizing a NbN thin film device, integrated with a Broken Linearly Tapered Slot Antenna (BLTSA), has been fabricated and is presently being tested. The NbN HEB device and the antenna were fabricated on a SiO2membrane. A 0.5 micrometer thick SiO2layer was grown by rf magnetron reactive sputtering on a GaAs wafer. The HEB device (phonon-cooled type) was produced as several parallel strips, 1 micrometer wide, from an ultrathin NbN film 4-7 nm thick, that was deposited onto the SiO2layer by dc magnetron reactive sputtering. The BLTSA was photoetched in a multilayer Ti-Au metallization. In order to strengthen the membrane, the front-side of the wafer was coated with a 5 micrometer thick polyimide layer just before the membrane formation. The last operation was anisotropic etching of the GaAs in a mixture of HNO3and H2O2.
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Svechnikov, S., Gol'tsman, G., Voronov, B., Yagoubov, P., Cherednichenko, S., Gershenzon, E., et al. (1997). Spiral antenna NbN hot-electron bolometer mixer at submm frequencies. IEEE Trans. Appl. Supercond., 7(2), 3395–3398.
Abstract: We have studied the phonon-cooled hot-electron bolometer (HEB) as a quasioptical mixer based on a spiral antenna designed for the 0.3-1 THz frequency band and fabricated on sapphire and high resistivity silicon substrates. HEB devices were produced from superconducting 3.5-5 nm thick NbN films with a critical temperature 10-12 K and a critical current density of approximately 10/sup 7/ A/cm/sup 2/ at 4.2 K. For these devices we reached a DSB receiver noise temperature below 1500 K, a total conversion loss of L/sub t/=16 dB in the 500-700 GHz frequency range, an IF bandwidth of 3-4 GHz and an optimal LO absorbed power of /spl sime/4 /spl mu/W. We experimentally analyzed various contributions to the conversion loss and obtained an RF coupling factor of about 5 dB, internal mixer loss of 10 dB and IF mismatch of 1 dB.
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Semenov, A. D., Gousev, Y. P., Nebosis, R. S., Renk, K. F., Yagoubov, P., Voronov, B. M., et al. (1996). Heterodyne detection of THz radiation with a superconducting hot‐electron bolometer mixer. Appl. Phys. Lett., 69(2), 260–262.
Abstract: We report on the use of a superconducting hot‐electron bolometer mixer for heterodyne detection of terahertz radiation. Radiation with a wavelength of 119 μm was coupled to the mixer, a NbN microbridge, by a hybrid quasioptical antenna consisting of an extended hyperhemispherical lens and a planar logarithmic spiral antenna. We found, at an intermediate frequency of 1.5 GHz, a system double side band noise temperature of ≊40 000 K and conversion losses of 25 dB. We also discuss the possibilities of further improvement of the mixer performance.
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Gousev, Y. P., Gol'tsman, G. N., Karasik, B. S., Gershenzon, E. M., Semenov, A. D., Barowski, H. S., et al. (1996). Quasioptical superconducting hot electron bolometer for submillmeter waves. Int. J. of Infrared and Millimeter Waves, 17(2), 317–331.
Abstract: We report on a superconducting hot electron bolometer coupled to radiation via a broadband antenna. The bolometer, a structured NbN film, was patterned on a thin dielectric membrane between terminals of a gold slotline antenna. We investigated the response to submillimeter radiation (wave-lengths ∼ 0.1 mm to 0.7 mm) in the fundamental Gaussian mode. We found that the directivity of the antenna was constant within a factor of 2.5 through the whole experimental range. The noise equivalent power of the bolometer at 119 µm was ∼ 3 · 10−13 W/Hz1/2; a time constant of ∼ 160 ps was estimated.
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Zorin, M., Gol'tsman, G. N., Karasik, B. S., Elantev, A. I., Gershenzon, E. M., Lindgren, M., et al. (1995). Optical mixing in thin YBa2Cu3O7-x films. IEEE Trans. Appl. Supercond., 5(2), 2431–2434.
Abstract: High quality, j/sub c/ (77 K)>10/sup 6/ A/cm/sup 2/, epitaxial YBa2Cu3O7-x films of 50 nm thickness were patterned into ten parallel 1 /spl mu/m wide strips. The film structure was coupled to a single-mode fiber. Mixer response was obtained at 0.78 /spl mu/m using laser frequency modulation and an optical delay line. Using two semiconductor lasers at 1.55 /spl mu/m wavelength the beating signal was used to measure the photoresponse up to 18 GHz. Nonequilibrium photoresponse in the resistive state of the superconductor was observed. Bolometric response dominates up to 3 GHz, after which the nonequilibrium response is constant up to the frequency limit of our registration system. Using an electron heating model the influence of different thermal processes on the conversion loss has been analyzed. Ways of increasing the sensitivity are also discussed.
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