Smirnov, K. V., Vakhtomin, Y. B., Divochiy, A. V., Ozhegov, R. V., Pentin, I. V., Slivinskaya, E. V., et al. (2009). Single-photon detectors for the visible and infrared parts of the spectrum based on NbN nanostructures. In Proc. Progress In Electromagnetics Research Symp. (pp. 863–864). Moscow, Russia.
Abstract: The research by the group of Moscow State Pedagogical University into the hot-electron phenomena in thin superconducting films has led to the development of new types ofdetectors [1, 2] and their use both in fundamental and applied studies [3–6]. In this paper, wepresent the results of the development and fabrication of receiving systems for the visible andinfrared parts of the spectrum optimised for use in telecommunication systems and quantumcryptography.
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Ryabchun, S. A., Tretyakov, I. V., Pentin, I. V., Kaurova, N. S., Seleznev, V. A., Voronov, B. M., et al. (2009). Low-noise wide-band hot-electron bolometer mixer based on an NbN film. Radiophys. Quant. Electron., 52(8), 576–582.
Abstract: We develop and study a hot-electron bolometer mixer made of a two-layer NbN–Au film in situ deposited on a silicon substrate. The double-sideband noise temperature of the mixer is 750 K at a frequency of 2.5 THz. The conversion efficiency measurements show that at the superconducting transition temperature, the intermediate-frequency bandwidth amounts to about 6.5 GHz for a mixer 0.112 μm long. These record-breaking characteristics are attributed to the improved contacts between a sensitive element and a helical antenna and are reached due to using the in situ deposition of NbN and Au layers at certain stages of the process.
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Rasulova, G. K., Brunkov, P. N., Pentin, I. V., Kovalyuk, V. V., Gorshkov, K. N., Kazakov, A. Y., et al. (2011). Mutual synchronization of two coupled self-oscillators based on GaAs/AlGaAs superlattices. Tech. Phys., 56(6), 826–830.
Abstract: The interaction of self-oscillators based on 30-period weakly coupled GaAs/AlGaAs superlattices is studied. The action of one self-oscillator on the other was observed for a constant bias voltage in the absence of generation of self-sustained oscillations in one of the oscillators. It is shown that induced oscillations in a forced oscillator appear due to excitation of oscillations in the system of coupled oscillators forming the electric-field domain wall at the frequency of one of the higher harmonics of a forcing oscillation.
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Pentin, I. V., Smirnov, A. V., Ryabchun, S. A., Ozhegov, R. V., Gol’tsman, G. N., Vaks, V. L., et al. (2012). Semiconducting superlattice as a solid-state terahertz local oscillator for NbN hot-electron bolometer mixers. Tech. Phys., 57(7), 971–974.
Abstract: We present the results of our studies of the semiconducting superlattice (SSL) frequency multiplier and its application as part of the solid state local oscillator (LO) in the terahertz heterodyne receiver based on a NbN hot-electron bolometer (HEB) mixer. We show that the SSL output power level increases as the ambient temperature is lowered to 4.2 K, the standard HEB operation temperature.
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Smirnov, K. V., Vakhtomin, Y. B., Divochiy, A. V., Ozhegov, R. V., Pentin, I. V., & Gol'tsman, G. N. (2010). Infrared and terahertz detectors on basis of superconducting nanostructures. In IEEE (Ed.), Microwave and Telecom. Technol. (CriMiCo), 20th Int. Crimean Conf. (pp. 823–824).
Abstract: Results of development of single-photon receiving systems of visible, infrared and terahertz range based on thin-film superconducting nanostructures are presented. The receiving systems are produced on the basis of superconducting nanostructures, which function by means of hot-electron phenomena.
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Lobanov, Y. V., Vakhtomin, Y. B., Pentin, I. V., Rosental, V. A., Smirnov, K. V., Goltsman, G. N., et al. (2021). Time-resolved measurements of light–current characteristic and mode competition in pulsed THz quantum cascade laser. Optical Engineering, 60(8), 1–8.
Abstract: Quantum cascade lasers (QCL) are widely adopted as prominent and easy-to-use solid-state sources of terahertz radiation. Yet some applications require generation and detection of very sharp and narrow terahertz-range pulses with a specific spectral composition. We have studied time-resolved light-current (L–I) characteristics of multimode THz QCL operated with a fast ramp of the injection current. Detection of THz pulses was carried out using an NbN superconducting hot-electron bolometer with the time constant of the order of 1 ns while the laser bias current was swept during a single driving pulse. A nonmonotonic behavior of the L–I characteristic with several visually separated subpeaks was found. This behavior is associated with the mode competition in THz QCL cavity, which we confirm by L–I measurements with use of an external Fabry–Perot interferometer for a discrete mode selection. We also have demonstrated the possibility to control the L–I shape with suppression of one of the subpeaks by simply adjusting the off-axis parabolic mirror for optimal optical alignment for one of the laser modes. The developed technique paves the way for rapid characterization of pulsed THz QCLs for further studies of the possibilities of using this approach in remote sensing.
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Rasulova, G. K., Pentin, I. V., Vakhtomin, Y. B., Smirnov, K. V., Khabibullin, R. A., Klimov, E. A., et al. (2020). Pulsed terahertz radiation from a double-barrier resonant tunneling diode biased into self-oscillation regime. J. Appl. Phys., 128(22), 224303 (1 to 11).
Abstract: The study of the bolometer response to terahertz (THz) radiation from a double-barrier resonant tunneling diode (RTD) biased into the negative differential conductivity region of the I–V characteristic revealed that the RTD emits two pulses in a period of intrinsic self-oscillations of current. The bolometer pulse repetition rate is a multiple of the fundamental frequency of the intrinsic self-oscillations of current. The bolometer pulses are detected at two critical points with a distance between them being half or one-third of a period of the current self-oscillations. An analysis of the current self-oscillations and the bolometer response has shown that the THz photon emission is excited when the tunneling electrons are trapped in (the first pulse) and then released from (the second pulse) miniband states.
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Rasulova, G. K., Pentin, I. V., & Goltsman, G. N. (2019). Terahertz emission from a weakly-coupled GaAs/AlGaAs superlattice biased into three different modes of current self-oscillations. AIP Advances, 9(10), 105220.
Abstract: Radio-frequency modulated terahertz (THz) emission power from weakly-coupled GaAs/AlGaAs superlattice (SL) has been increased by parallel connection of several SL mesas. Each SL mesa is a self-oscillator with its own oscillation frequency and mode. In coupled non-identical SL mesas biased at different voltages within the hysteresis loop the chaotic, quasiperiodic and frequency-locked modes of self-oscillations of current arise. THz emission was detected when three connected in parallel SL mesas were biased into the frequency-locked and quasiperiodic modes of self-oscillations of current, while in the chaotic mode of those it falls to the noise level.
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Ren, Y., Zhang, D. X., Zhou, K. M., Miao, W., Zhang, W., Shi, S. C., et al. (2019). 10.6 μm heterodyne receiver based on a superconducting hot-electron bolometer mixer and a quantum cascade laser. AIP Advances, 9(7), 075307.
Abstract: We report on the development of a heterodyne receiver at mid-infrared wavelength for high-resolution spectroscopy applications. The receiver employs a superconducting NbN hot electron bolometer as a mixer and a room temperature distributed feedback quantum cascade laser operating at 10.6 μm (28.2 THz) as a local oscillator. The stabilization of the heterodyne receiver has been achieved using a feedback loop controlling the output power of the laser. Improved Allan variance times as well as a double sideband receiver noise temperature of 5000 K and a noise bandwidth of 2.8 GHz of the receiver system are demonstrated.
The work is supported in part by the National Key R&D Program of China under Grant 2018YFA0404701, by the CAS program under Grant QYZDJ-SSW-SLH043 and GJJSTD20180003, by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (NSFC) under Grant 11773083, by the “Hundred Talents Program” of the “Pioneer Initiative”, and in part by the CAS Key Lab for Radio Astronomy.
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Anfertev, V., Vaks, V., Revin, L., Pentin, I., Tretyakov, I., Goltsman, G., et al. (2017). High resolution THz gas spectrometer based on semiconductor and superconductor devices. In EPJ Web Conf. (Vol. 132, 02001 (1 to 2)).
Abstract: The high resolution THz gas spectrometer consists of a synthesizer based on Gunn generator with a semiconductor superlattice frequency multiplier as a radiation source, and an NbN hot electron bolometer in a direct detection mode as a THz radiation receiver was presented. The possibility of application of a quantum cascade laser as a local oscillator for a heterodyne receiver which is based on an NbN hot electron bolometer mixer is shown. The ways for further developing of the THz spectroscopy were outlined.
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Rasulova, G. K., Brunkov, P. N., Pentin, I. V., Egorov, A. Y., Knyazev, D. A., Andrianov, A. V., et al. (2012). A weakly coupled semiconductor superlattice as a potential for a radio frequency modulated terahertz light emitter. Appl. Phys. Lett., 100(13), 131104 (1 to 4).
Abstract: The bolometer response to THz radiation from a weakly coupled GaAs/AlGaAs superlattice biased in the self-oscillations regime has been observed. The bolometer signal is modulated with the frequency equal to the fundamental frequency of superlattice self-oscillations. The frequency spectrum of the bolometer signal contains higher harmonics whose frequency is a multiple of fundamental frequency of self-oscillations.
This work was supported by State Contracts Nos. 16.740.11.0044 and 16.552.11.7002 of Ministry of Education and Science of the Russian Federation. Structural characterization was made on the equipment of the Joint Research Centre «Material science and characterization in advanced technology» (Ioffe Institute, St. Petersburg, Russia).
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Pentin, I. V., Smirnov, A. V., Ryabchun, S. A., Gol’tsman, G. N., Vaks, V. L., Pripolzin, S. I., et al. (2011). Heterodyne source of THz range based on semiconductor superlattice multiplier. In IRMMW-THz (pp. 1–2).
Abstract: We present the results of our studies of the possibility of developing a heterodyne receiver incorporating a hot-electron bolometer mixer as the detector and a semiconductor superlattice multiplier driven by a reference synthesizer as the local oscillator. We observe that such a local oscillator offers enough power in the terahertz range to pump the HEB into the operating state.
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Ryabchun, S., Smirnov, A., Pentin, I., Vakhtomin, Y., Smirnov, K., Kaurova, N., et al. (2011). Superconducting single photon detector integrated with optical cavity. In Proc. MLPLIT (pp. 143–145). Modern laser physics and laser-information technologies for science and manufacture.
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Maslennikova, A., Larionov, P., Ryabchun, S., Smirnov, A., Pentin, I., Vakhtomin, Y., et al. (2011). Noise equivalent power and dynamic range of NBN hot-electron bolometers. In Proc. MLPLIT (pp. 146–148). Modern laser physics and laser-information technologies for science and manufacture.
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Smirnov, K. V., Vachtomin, Y. B., Ozhegov, R. V., Pentin, I. V., Slivinskaya, E. V., Korneev, A. A., et al. (2008). Fiber coupled single photon receivers based on superconducting detectors for quantum communications and quantum cryptography. In P. Tománek, D. Senderáková, & M. Hrabovský (Eds.), Proc. SPIE (Vol. 7138, 713827 (1 to 6)). Spie.
Abstract: At present superconducting detectors become increasingly attractive for various practical applications. In this paper we present results on the depelopment of fiber coupled receiver systems for the registration of IR single photons, optimized for telecommunication and quantum-cryptography. These receiver systems were developed on the basis of superconducting single photon detectors (SSPD) of VIS and IR wavelength ranges. The core of the SSPD is a narrow ( 100 nm) and long ( 0,5 mm) strip in the form of a meander which is patterned from a 4-nm-thick NbN film (TC=10-11 K, jC= 5-7•106 A/cm2); the sensitive area dimensions are 10×10 μm2. The main problem to be solved while the receiver system development was optical coupling of a single-mode fiber (9 microns in diameter) with the SSPD sensitive area. Characteristics of the developed system at the optical input are as follows: quantum efficiency >10 % (at 1.3 μm), >4 % (at 1.55 μm); dark counts rate ≤1 s-1; duration of voltage pulse ≤5 ns; jitter ≤40 ps. The receiver systems have either one or two identical channels (for the case of carrying out correlation measurements) and are made as an insert in a helium storage Dewar.
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