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Kaganov, M. L., Lifshitz, I. M., & Tanatarov, L. V. (1957). Relaxation between electrons and the crystalline lattice. Sov. Phys. JETP, 4(2), 173–178.
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Tret'yakov, I. V., Kaurova, N. S., Voronov, B. M., Anfert'ev, V. A., Revin, L. S., Vaks, V. L., et al. (2016). The influence of the diffusion cooling on the noise band of the superconductor NbN hot-electron bolometer operating in the terahertz range. Tech. Phys. Lett., 42(6), 563–566.
Abstract: Results of an experimental study of the noise temperature (Tn) and noise bandwidth (NBW) of the superconductor NbN hot-electron bolometer (HEB) mixer as a function of its temperature (Tb) are presented. It was determined that the NBW of the mixer is significantly wider at temperatures close to the critical ones (Tc) than are values measured at 4.2 K. The NBW of the mixer measured at the heterodyne frequency of 2.5 THz at temperature Tb close to Tc was ~13 GHz, as compared with 6 GHz at Tb = 4.2 K. This experiment clearly demonstrates the limitation of the thermal flow from the NbN bridge at Tb â‰<aa> Tc for mixers manufactured by the in situ technique. This limitation is close in its nature to the Andreev reflection on the superconductor/ metal boundary. In this case, the noise temperature of the studied mixer increased from 1100 to 3800 K.
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Smirnov, A. V., Larionov, P. A., Finkel, M. I., Maslennikov, S. N., Voronov, B. M., & Gol'tsman, G. N. (2008). NbZr films for THz phonon-cooled HEB mixers. In Proc. 19th Int. Symp. Space Terahertz Technol. (pp. 44–47). Groningen, Netherlands.
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Semenov, A. D., Nebosis, R. S., Gousev, Y. P., Heusinger, M. A., & Renk, K. F. (1995). Analysis of the nonequilibrium photoresponse of superconducting films to pulsed radiation by use of a two-temperature model. Phys. Rev. B, 52(1), 581–590.
Abstract: Photoresponse of a superconducting film in the resistive state to pulsed radiation has been studied in the framework of a model assuming that two different effective temperatures can be assigned to the quasiparticle and phonon nonequilibrium distributions. The coupled electron-phonon-substrate system is described by a system of time-dependent energy-balance differential equations for effective temperatures. An analytical solution of the system is given and calculated voltage transients are compared with experimental photoresponse signals taking into account the radiation pulse shape and the time resolution of the readout electronics. It is supposed that a resistive state (vortices, fluxons, network of intergrain junctions, hot spots, phase slip centers) provides an ultrafast connection between electron temperature changes and changes of the film resistance and thus plays a minor role in the temporal evolution of the response. In accordance with experimental observations a two-component response was revealed from simulations. The slower component corresponds to a bolometric mechanism while the fast component is connected with the relaxation of the electron temperature. Calculated photoresponse transients are presented for different ratios of the electron and phonon specific heat, radiation pulse durations and fluences, and frequency band passes of registration electronics. From the amplitude of the bolometric component we determine the radiation energy absorbed in a film. This enables us to reveal an intrinsic electron-phonon scattering time even if it is much shorter than the time resolution of readout electronics. We analyze experimental voltage transients for NbN, YBa2Cu3O7, and TlBa2Ca2Cu3O9 superconducting films and find the electron-phonon interaction times at the transition temperatures of 17, 2.5, and 1.8 ps, respectively. The values are in reasonable agreement with data of other experiments.
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Siddiqi, I., & Prober, D. E. (2004). Nb–Au bilayer hot-electron bolometers for low-noise THz heterodyne detection. Appl. Phys. Lett., 84(8), 1404.
Abstract: The sensitivity of present Nb diffusion-cooled hot-electron bolometer (HEB) mixers is not quantum limited, and can be improved by reducing the superconducting transition temperature TC. Lowering TC reduces thermal fluctuations, resulting in a decrease of the mixer noise temperature TM. However, lower TC mixers have reduced dynamic range and saturate more easily due to background noise. We present 30 GHz microwave measurements on a bilayer HEB system, Nb–Au, in which TC can be tuned with Au layer thickness to obtain the maximum sensitivity for a given noise background. These measurements are intended as a guide for the optimization of THz mixers. Using a Nb–Au mixer with TC = 1.6 K, we obtain TM = 50 K with 2 nW of local oscillator (LO) power. Good mixer performance is observed over a wide range of LO power and bias voltage and such a device should not exhibit saturation in a THz receiver.
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Гольцман, Г. Н., & Лудков, Д. Н. (2003). Сверхпроводниковые смесители на горячих электронах терагерцового диапазона и их применение в радиоастрономии. Изв. высших учебных заведений. Радиофизика, 46(8/9).
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Tong, C. - Y. E., Meledin, D. V., Marrone, D. P., Paine, S. N., Gibson, H., & Blundell, R. (2003). Near field vector beam measurements at 1 THz. IEEE Microw. Compon. Lett., 13(6), 235–237.
Abstract: We have performed near-field vector beam measurements at 1.03 THz to characterize and align the receiver optics of a superconducting receiver. The signal source is a harmonic generator mounted on an X-Y translation stage. We model the measured two-dimensional complex beam pattern by a fundamental Gaussian mode, from which we derive the position of the beam center, the beam radius and the direction of propagation. By performing scans in the planes separated by 400 mm, we have confirmed that our beam pattern measurements are highly reliable.
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Meledin, D., Pavolotsky, A., Desmaris, V., Lapkin, I., Risacher, C., Perez, V., et al. (2009). A 1.3-THz balanced waveguide HEB mixer for the APEX telescope. IEEE Trans. Microw. Theory Techn., 57(1), 89–98.
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.
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Рябчун, С. А. (2009). Широкополосные высокостабильные терагерцовые смесители на горячих электронах из тонких сверхпроводниковых пленок NbN. Ph.D. thesis, , .
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Tretyakov, I. V., Ryabchun, S. A., Maslennikov, S. N., Finkel, M. I., Kaurova, N. S., Seleznev, V. A., et al. (2008). NbN HEB mixer: fabrication, noise temperature reduction and characterization. In Proc. Basic problems of superconductivity. Moscow-Zvenigorod.
Abstract: We demonstrate that in the terahertz region superconducting hot-electron mixers offer the lowest noise temperature, opening the possibility of using HTS's in the future to fabricate these devices. Specifically, a noise temperature of 950 K was measured for the receiver operating at 2.5 THz with a NbN HEB mixer, and a gain bandwidth of 6 GHz was measured at 300 GHz near Tc for the same mixer.
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Ryabchun, S. A., Tretyakov, I. V., Finkel, M. I., Maslennikov, S. N., Kaurova, N. S., Seleznev, V. A., et al. (2008). Fabrication and characterisation of NbN HEB mixers with in situ gold contacts. In Proc. 19th Int. Symp. Space Terahertz Technol. (pp. 62–67). Groningen, Netherlands.
Abstract: We present our recent results of the fabrication and testing of NbN hot-electron bolometer mixers with in situ gold contacts. An intermediate frequency bandwidth of about 6 GHz has been measured for the mixers made of a 3.5-nm NbN film on a plane Si substrate with in situ gold contacts, compared to 3.5 GHz for devices made of the same film with ex situ gold contacts. The increase in the intermediate frequency bandwidth is attributed to additional diffusion cooling through the improved contacts, which is further supported by the its dependence on the bridge length: intermediate frequency bandwidths of 3.5 GHz and 6 GHz have been measured for devices with lengths of 0.35 μm and 0.16 μm respectively at a local oscillator frequency of 300 GHz near the superconducting transition. At a local oscillator frequency of 2.5 THz the receiver has offered a DSB noise temperature of 950 K. When compared to the previous result of 1300 K obtained at the same local oscillator frequency for devices fabricated with an ex situ route, such a low value of the noise temperature may also be attributed to the improved gold contacts.
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Cherednichenko, S., Drakinskiy, V., Baubert, J., Krieg, J. - M., Voronov, B., Gol'tsman, G., et al. (2007). Gain bandwidth of NbN hot-electron bolometer terahertz mixers on 1.5 μm Si3N4 / SiO2 membranes. J. Appl. Phys., 101(12), 124508 (1 to 6).
Abstract: The gain bandwidth of NbN hot-electron bolometer terahertz mixers on electrically thin Si3N4/SiO2 membranes was experimentally investigated and compared with that of HEB mixers on bulk substrates. A gain bandwidth of 3.5 GHz is achieved on bulk silicon, whereas the gain bandwidth is reduced down to 0.6–0.9 GHz for mixers on 1.5 μm Si3N4/SiO2 membranes. We show that application of a MgO buffer layer on the membrane extends the gain bandwidth to 3 GHz. The experimental data were analyzed using the film-substrate acoustic mismatch approach.
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Cherednichenko, S., Drakinskiy, V., Baubert, J., Lecomte, B., Dauplay, F., Krieg, J. M., et al. (2006). 2.5 THz multipixel heterodyne receiver based on NbN HEB mixers. In Proc. SPIE (Vol. 6275, 62750I (1 to 11)).
Abstract: A 16 pixel heterodyne receiver for 2.5 THz has been developed based on NbN superconducting hot-electron bolometer (HEB) mixers. The receiver uses a quasioptical RF coupling approach where HEB mixers are integrated into double dipole antennas on 1.5 µm thick Si3N4/SiO2 membranes. Spherical mirrors (one per pixel) and backshort distance from the antenna have been used to design the output mixer beam profile. The camera design allows all 16 pixel IF readout in parallel. The gain bandwidth of the HEB mixers on Si3N4/SiO2 membranes was found to be 0.7÷0.9 GHz, which is much smaller than for similar devices on silicon. Application of buffer layers and use of alternative types of membranes (e.g. silicon-on-insulator) is under investigation.
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Kawamura, J., Blundell, R., Tong, C. - Y. E., Papa, D. C., Hunter, T. R., Gol'tsman, G., et al. (1998). First light with an 800 GHz phonon-cooled HEB mixer receiver. In Proc. 9th Int. Symp. Space Terahertz Technol. (pp. 35–43). Pasadena, California, USA.
Abstract: Phonon-cooled superconductive hot-electron bolometric (HEB) mixers are incorporated in a waveguide receiver designed to operate near 800 Gliz. The mixer elements are thin-film nio- bium nitride microbridges with dimensions of 4 nm thickness, 0.2 to 0.3 p.m in length and 2 jun in width. At 780 GHz the best receiver noise temperature is 840 K (DSB). The mixer IF bandwidth is 2.0 GHz, the absorbed LO power is —0.1 1.1W. A fixed-tuned version of the re- ceiver was installed at the Submillimeter Telescope Observatory on Mt. Graham, Arizona, to conduct astronomical observations. These observations represent the first time that a receiver incorporating any superconducting HEB mixer has been used to detect a spectral line of celes- tial origin.
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Cherednichenko, S., & Drakinskiy, V. (2008). Low noise hot-electron bolometer mixers for terahertz frequencies. J. Low Temp. Phys., 151(1-2), 575–579.
Abstract: Hot-electron bolometer (HEB) mixers are used in many low noise heterodyne radio astronomical receivers. Their noise temperature is at the level of 10–15 times the quantum limit. However, their gain bandwidth is a serious limiting factor. Here we review the state of the art of the HEB mixers gain bandwidth for different materials and substrates. We compare the gain bandwidth of HEB mixers made on bulk substrates and thin membranes. Finally, results for MgB2 thin films for broadband HEB mixers are discussed.
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