Abstract: A study is reported of the current switching in high‐quality YBaCuO films deposited onto NdGaO3 and ZrO2 substrates between superconducting (S) and normal (N) states. The films 60–120 nm thick prepared by laser ablation were structured into single strips between gold contacts. The time dependence of the resistance after application of the voltage step to the film was monitored. Experiment performed within certain ranges of voltage amplitudes and temperatures has shown the occurrence of the fast stage (shorter than 400 ps) both in S‐N and N‐S transitions. A fraction of the film resistance changing within this stage in the S‐N transition increases with the current amplitude. A subnanosecond N‐S stage becomes more pronounced for shorter pulses. The fast switching is followed by the much slower change of resistance. The mechanism of switching is discussed in terms of the hot‐electron phenomena in YBaCuO. The contributions of other thermal processes (e.g., a phonon escape from the film, a heat diffusion in the film and substrate, a resistive domain formation) in the subsequent stage of the resistance dynamic have been also discussed. The basic limiting characteristics (average dissipated power, energy needed for switching, maximum repetition rate) of a picosecond switch which is proposed to be developed are estimated.

Abstract: Thin YBa2Cu3O7−δ laser deposited films were patterned into devices consisting of ten parallel 1 μm wide strips. Nonequilibrium picosecond and bolometric photoresponses were studied by the use of 17 ps full width at half‐maximum laser pulses and amplitude modulated radiation from an AlGaAs laser up to 10 GHz and from a CO2 laser up to 1 GHz. The time and frequency domain measurements were in agreement. The fast response can be explained by electron heating. The use of low optical power and a sensitive measurement system excluded any nonlinear transient processes and kinetic inductance changes in the superconducting state. At 1 GHz modulation frequency, the responsivity was ∼1.2 V/W both for 0.8 and 10.6 μm wavelengths. The sensitivity of a fast and spectrally broadband infrared detector is discussed.

Abstract: Hot‐electron bolometric (HEB) mixing of 9.6 μm infrared radiation from two lasers in high‐quality YBa2Cu3O7−δ (YBCO) patterned thin film has been demonstrated. A heterodyne measurement showed an intermediate frequency (IF) bandwidth of 18 GHz, limited by our measurement system. An intrinsic limit of 100 GHz is predicted. Between 0.1 and 1 GHz intermediate frequency, temperature fluctuations with an equivalent output noise temperature Tfl up to ∼150 K, contributed to the mixer noise while Johnson noise dominated above 1 GHz. The overall conversion loss at 77 K at low intermediate frequencies was measured to be ∼25 dB, of which 13 dB was due to the coupling loss. The HEB mixer is very promising for use in heterodyne receivers within the whole infrared range.

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: The authors have investigated the photoinduced voltage response of a current-carrying structured YBa₂Cu₃O_7-δ thin film to ultrashort far-infrared (FIR) laser pulses in the frequency range from 0.7 THz to 7 THz. The detector has shown an almost constant sensitivity of 1 mV/W and a noise equivalent power of less than 5*10/sup -7/ W/ square root Hz. The temperature dependence of the decay time of the detector signal was studied for temperatures around the transition temperature of the film ( approximately 80 K). For a detector temperature where dR/dT had its maximum, the authors observed bolometric signals with decay times of about 2 ns, and for lower temperatures they observed nonbolometric signals with decay times of approximately 120 ps; the duration of the nonbolometric signals was limited by the time resolution of the electronic registration equipment.