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Author Kawamura, J. H.; Tong, C.-Y.E.; Blundell, R.; Cosmo Papa, D.; Hunter, T. R.; Gol'tsman, G.; Cherednichenko, S.; Voronov, B.; Gershenzon, E.
Title An 800 GHz NbN phonon-cooled hot-electron bolometer mixer receiver Type Journal Article
Year 1999 Publication (down) IEEE Trans. Appl. Supercond. Abbreviated Journal IEEE Trans. Appl. Supercond.
Volume 9 Issue 2 Pages 3753-3756
Keywords NbN HEB mixers
Abstract We describe a heterodyne receiver developed for astronomical applications to operate in the 350 /spl mu/m atmospheric window. The waveguide receiver employs a superconductive NbN phonon-cooled hot-electron bolometer mixer. The double sideband receiver noise temperature closely follows 1 kGHz/sup -1/ across 780-870 GHz, with the intermediate frequency centered at 1.4 GHz. The conversion loss is about 15 dB. The receiver was installed for operation at the University of Arizona/Max Planck Institute for Radio Astronomy Submillimeter Telescope facility. The instrument was successfully used to conduct test observations of a number of celestial sources in a number of astronomically important spectral lines.
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ISSN 1051-8223 ISBN Medium
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Call Number Serial 288
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Author Kroug, M.; Cherednichenko, S.; Merkel, H.; Kollberg, E.; Voronov, B.; Gol'tsman, G.; Hübers, H. W.; Richter, H.
Title NbN hot electron bolometric mixers for terahertz receivers Type Journal Article
Year 2001 Publication (down) IEEE Trans. Appl. Supercond. Abbreviated Journal IEEE Trans. Appl. Supercond.
Volume 11 Issue 1 Pages 962-965
Keywords NbN HEB mixers
Abstract Sensitivity and gain bandwidth measurements of phonon-cooled NbN superconducting hot-electron bolometer mixers are presented. The best receiver noise temperatures are: 700 K at 1.6 THz and 1100 K at 2.5 THz. Parylene as an antireflection coating on silicon has been investigated and used in the optics of the receiver. The dependence of the mixer gain bandwidth (GBW) on the bias voltage has been measured. Starting from low bias voltages, close to operating conditions yielding the lowest noise temperature, the GBW increases towards higher bias voltages, up to three times the initial value. The highest measured GBW is 9 GHz within the same bias range the noise temperature increases by a factor of two.
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Call Number Serial 312
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Author Meledin, D.; Tong, C. Y.-E.; Blundell, R.; Kaurova, N.; Smirnov, K.; Voronov, B.; Gol'tsman, G.
Title Study of the IF bandwidth of NbN HEB mixers based on crystalline quartz substrate with an MgO buffer layer Type Journal Article
Year 2003 Publication (down) IEEE Trans. Appl. Supercond. Abbreviated Journal IEEE Trans. Appl. Supercond.
Volume 13 Issue 2 Pages 164-167
Keywords NbN HEB mixer
Abstract In this paper, we present the results of IF bandwidth measurements on 3-4 nm thick NbN hot electron bolometer waveguide mixers, which have been fabricated on a 200-nm thick MgO buffer layer deposited on a crystalline quartz substrate. The 3-dB IF bandwidth, measured at an LO frequency of 0.81 THz, is 3.7 GHz at the optimal bias point for low noise receiver operation. We have also made measurements of the IF dynamic impedance, which allow us to evaluate the intrinsic electron temperature relaxation time and self-heating parameters at different bias conditions.
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Call Number Serial 341
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Author Semenov, A. D.; Hübers, Heinz-Wilhelm; Richter, H.; Birk, M.; Krocka, M.; Mair, U.; Vachtomin, Yu. B.; Finkel, M. I.; Antipov, S. V.; Voronov, B. M.; Smirnov, K. V.; Kaurova, N. S.; Drakinski, V. N.; Gol'tsman, G. N.
Title Superconducting hot-electron bolometer mixer for terahertz heterodyne receivers Type Journal Article
Year 2003 Publication (down) IEEE Trans. Appl. Supercond. Abbreviated Journal
Volume 13 Issue 2 Pages 168-171
Keywords NbN HEB mixers
Abstract We present recent results showing the development of superconducting NbN hot-electron bolometer mixer for German receiver for astronomy at terahertz frequencies and terahertz limb sounder. The mixer is incorporated into a planar feed antenna, which has either logarithmic spiral or double-slot configuration, and backed on a silicon lens. The hybrid antenna had almost frequency independent and symmetric radiation pattern slightly broader than expected for a diffraction limited antenna. At 2.5 THz the best 2200 K double side-band receiver noise temperature was achieved across a 1 GHz intermediate frequency bandwidth centred at 1.5 GHz. For this operation regime, a receiver conversion efficiency of -17 dB was directly measured and the loss budget was evaluated. The mixer response was linear at load temperatures smaller than 400 K. Implementation of the MgO buffer layer on Si resulted in an increased 5.2 GHz gain bandwidth. The receiver was tested in the laboratory environment by measuring a methanol emission line at 2.5 THz.
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Call Number Serial 343
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Author Baselmans, J. J. A.; Hajenius, M.; Gao, J. R.; Baryshev, A.; Kooi, J.; Klapwijk, T. M.; Voronov, B.; de Korte, P.; Gol'tsman, G.
Title NbN hot electron bolometer mixers: sensitivity, LO power, direct detection and stability Type Journal Article
Year 2005 Publication (down) IEEE Trans. Appl. Supercond. Abbreviated Journal IEEE Trans. Appl. Supercond.
Volume 15 Issue 2 Pages 484-489
Keywords HEB mixers, direct detection effect, stability, Allan variance
Abstract We demonstrate that the performance of NbN lattice cooled hot electron bolometer mixers depends strongly on the interface quality between the bolometer and the contact structure. Both the receiver noise temperature and the gain bandwidth can be improved by a factor of 2 by cleaning the interface and adding an additional superconducting interlayer to the contact pad. Using this we obtain a double sideband receiver noise temperature of 950 K at 2.5 THz and 4.3 K, using a 0.4/spl times/4 /spl mu/m HEB mixer with a spiral antenna. At the same bias point, we obtain an IF gain bandwidth of 6 GHz. To comply with current demands on THz mixers for use in space based receivers we reduce the device size to 0.15/spl times/1 /spl mu/m and use a twin slot antenna. We report measurements of the noise temperature, LO power requirement, stability and the direct detection effect, using a mixer with a 1.6 THz twin slot antenna and a 1.462 THz solid state LO source with calibrated output power.
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ISSN 1051-8223 ISBN Medium
Area Expedition Conference
Notes Approved no
Call Number Serial 546
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Author Schwaab, G.W.; Sirmain, G.; Schubert, J.; Hubers, H.-W.; Gol'tsman, G.; Cherednichenko, S.; Verevkin, A.; Voronov, B.; Gershenzon, E.
Title Investigation of NbN phonon-cooled HEB mixers at 2.5 THz Type Journal Article
Year 1999 Publication (down) IEEE Trans. Appl. Supercond. Abbreviated Journal IEEE Trans. Appl. Supercond.
Volume 9 Issue 2 Pages 4233-4236
Keywords NbN HEB mixers
Abstract The development of superconducting hot electron bolometric (HEB) mixers has been a big step forward in the direction of quantum noise limited mixer performance at THz frequencies. Such mixers are crucial for the upcoming generation of airborne and spaceborne THz heterodyne receivers. In this paper we report on new results on a phonon-cooled NbN HEB mixer using e-beam lithography. The superconducting film is 3 nm thick. The mixer is 0.2 μm long and 1.5 μm wide and it is integrated in a spiral antenna on a Si substrate. The device is quasi-optically coupled through a Si lens and a dielectric beam combiner to the radiation of an optically pumped FIR ring gas laser cavity. The performance of the mixer at different THz frequencies from 0.69 to 2.55 THz with an emphasis on 2.52 THz is demonstrated. At 2.52 THz minimum DSB noise temperatures of 4200 K have been achieved at an IF of 1.5 GHz and a bandwidth of 40 MHz with the mixer mounted in a cryostat and a 0.8 m long signal path in air.
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ISSN 1051-8223 ISBN Medium
Area Expedition Conference
Notes Approved no
Call Number Serial 550
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Author Gao, J. R.; Hajenius, M.; Yang, Z. Q.; Baselmans, J. J. A.; Khosropanah, P.; Barends, R.; Klapwijk, T. M.
Title Terahertz superconducting hot electron bolometer heterodyne receivers Type Journal Article
Year 2007 Publication (down) IEEE Trans. Appl. Supercond. Abbreviated Journal
Volume 17 Issue 2 Pages 252-258
Keywords HEB, mixer, direct detection effect
Abstract We highlight the progress on NbN hot electron bolometer (HEB) mixers achieved through fruitful collaboration between SRON Netherlands Institute for Space Research and Delft University of Technology, the Netherlands. This includes the best receiver noise temperatures of 700 K at 1.63 THz using a twin-slot antenna mixer and 1050 K at 2.84 THz using a spiral antenna coupled HEB mixer. The mixers are based on thin NbN films on Si and fabricated with a new contact-process and-structure. By reducing their areas HEB mixers have shown an LO power requirement as low as 30 nW. Those small HEB mixers have demonstrated equivalent sensitivity as those with large areas provided the direct detection effect due to broadband radiation is removed. To manifest that a HEB based heterodyne receiver can in practice be used at arbitrary frequencies above 2 THz, we demonstrate a 2.8 THz receiver using a THz quantum cascade laser (QCL) as local oscillator.
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ISSN 1051-8223 ISBN Medium
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Notes Approved no
Call Number RPLAB @ asmirn @ Serial 557
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Author Ryabchun, Sergey; Tong, Cheuk-Yu Edward; Blundell, Raymond; Gol'tsman, Gregory
Title Stabilization scheme for hot-electron bolometer receivers using microwave radiation Type Journal Article
Year 2009 Publication (down) IEEE Trans. Appl. Supercond. Abbreviated Journal IEEE Trans. Appl. Supercond.
Volume 19 Issue 1 Pages 14-19
Keywords HEB, mixer, Allan variance, stabilization, radiometer equation
Abstract We present the results of a stabilization scheme for terahertz receivers based on NbN hot-electron bolometer (HEB) mixers that uses microwave radiation with a frequency much lower than the gap frequency of NbN to compensate for mixer current fluctuations. A feedback control loop, which actively controls the power level of the injected microwave radiation, has successfully been implemented to stabilize the operating point of the HEB mixer. This allows us to increase the receiver Allan time to 10 s and also improve the temperature resolution of the receiver by about 30% in the total power mode of operation.
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ISSN 1051-8223 ISBN Medium
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Call Number RPLAB @ lobanovyury @ Serial 559
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Author Ryabchun, Sergey; Tong, Cheuk-Yu Edward; Paine, Scott; Lobanov, Yury; Blundell, Raymond; Goltsman, Gregory
Title Temperature resolution of an HEB receiver at 810 GHz Type Journal Article
Year 2009 Publication (down) IEEE Trans. Appl. Supercond. Abbreviated Journal IEEE Trans. Appl. Supercond.
Volume 19 Issue 3 Pages 293-296
Keywords HEB mixer
Abstract We present the results of direct measurements of the temperature resolution of an HEB receiver operating at 810 GHz, in both continuum and spectroscopic modes. In the continuum mode, the input of the receiver was switched between black bodies with different physical temperatures. With a system noise temperature of around 1100 K, the receiver was able to resolve loads which differed in temperature by about 1 K over an integration time of 5 seconds. This resolution is significantly worse than the value of 0.07 K given by the radiometer equation. In the spectroscopic mode, a gas cell filled with carbonyl sulphide (OCS) gas was used and the emission line at 813.3537060 GHz was measured using the receiver in conjunction with a digital spectrometer. From the observed spectra, we determined that the measurement uncertainty of the equivalent emission temperature was 2.8 K for an integration time of 0.25 seconds and a spectral resolution of 12 MHz, compared to a 1.4 K temperature resolution given by the radiometer equation. This relative improvement is due to the fact that at short integration times the contribution from 1/f noise and drift are less dominant. In both modes, the temperature resolution was improved by about 40% with the use of a feedback loop which adjusted the level of an injected microwave radiation to maintain a constant operating current of the HEB mixer. This stabilization scheme has proved to be very effective to keep the temperature resolution of the HEB receiver to close to the theoretical value given by the radiometer equation.
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Call Number Serial 636
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Author Tretyakov, Ivan; Ryabchun, Sergey; Finkel, Matvey; Maslennikov, Sergey; Maslennikova, Anna; Kaurova, Natalia; Lobastova, Anastasia; Voronov, Boris; Gol'tsman, Gregory
Title Ultrawide noise bandwidth of NbN hot-electron bolometer mixers with in situ gold contacts Type Journal Article
Year 2011 Publication (down) IEEE Trans. Appl. Supercond. Abbreviated Journal
Volume 21 Issue 3 Pages 620-623
Keywords NbN HEB mixer bandwidth
Abstract We report a noise bandwidth of 7 GHz in the new generation of NbN hot-electron bolometer (HEB) mixers that are being developed for the space observatory Millimetron. The HEB receiver driven by a 2.5-THz local oscillator offered a noise temperature of 600 K in a 50-MHz final detection bandwidth. As the filter center frequency was swept this value remained nearly constant up to the cutoff frequency of the cryogenic amplifier at 7 GHz. We believe that such a low value of the noise temperature is due to reduced radio frequency (RF) loss at the interface between the superconducting film and the gold contacts. We have also performed gain bandwidth measurements at the superconducting transition on HEB mixers with various lengths and found them to be in excellent agreement with the results of the analytical and numerical models developed for the HEB mixer with both diffusion and phonon cooling of hot electrons.
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Call Number RPLAB @ gujma @ Serial 716
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Author Lobanov, Y.; Tong, E.; Blundell, R.; Hedden, A.; Voronov, B.; Gol'tsman, G.
Title Large-signal frequency response of an HEB mixer: from 300 MHz to terahertz Type Journal Article
Year 2011 Publication (down) IEEE Trans. Appl. Supercond. Abbreviated Journal
Volume 21 Issue 3 Pages 628-631
Keywords waveguide NbN HEB mixers
Abstract We present a study of the large signal frequency response of an HEB mixer over a wide frequency range. In our experiments, we have subjected the HEB mixer to incident electromagnetic radiation from 0.3 GHz to 1 THz. The mixer element is an NbN film deposited on crystalline quartz. The mixer chip is mounted in a waveguide cavity, coupled to free space with a diagonal horn. At microwave frequencies, electromagnetic radiation is applied through the coaxial bias port of the mixer block. At higher frequencies the input signal passes via the diagonal horn feed. At each frequency, the incident power is varied and a family of I-V curves is recorded. From the curves we identify 3 distinct regimes of operation of the mixer separated by the phonon relaxation frequency and the superconducting energy gap frequency observed at about 3 GHz and 660 GHz respectively. In this paper, we will present observed curves and discuss the results of our experiment.
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Call Number RPLAB @ gujma @ Serial 719
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Author Lobanov, Y.V.; Tong, C.-Y.E.; Hedden, A.S.; Blundell, R.; Voronov, B.M.; Gol'tsman, G.N.
Title Direct measurement of the gain and noise bandwidths of HEB mixers Type Journal Article
Year 2011 Publication (down) IEEE Trans. Appl. Supercond. Abbreviated Journal IEEE Trans. Appl. Supercond.
Volume 21 Issue 3 Pages 645-648
Keywords waveguide NbN HEB mixers
Abstract The intermediate frequency (IF) bandwidth of a hot electron bolometer (HEB) mixer is an important parameter of the mixer, in that it helps to determine its suitability for a given application. With the availability of wideband low noise amplifiers, it is simple to measure the performance of an HEB mixer over a wide range of IF at a fixed LO frequency using the standard Y-factor method. This in-situ method allows us to measure both the gain and noise bandwidths simultaneously. We have also measured mixer output impedance with a vector network analyser. Intrinsic time constant has been extracted from the impedance data and compared to the mixer's bandwidths determined from receiver Y-factor measurement.
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Call Number RPLAB @ gujma @ Serial 720
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Author Kawakami, A; Saito, S.; Hyodo, M.
Title Fabrication of nano-antennas for superconducting Infrared detectors Type Journal Article
Year 2011 Publication (down) IEEE Trans. Appl. Supercond. Abbreviated Journal
Volume 21 Issue 3 Pages 632-635
Keywords optical antennas, NbN/MgO/NbN/TiN/Al HEB, dipole antennas, IR, infrared
Abstract To improve the response performance of superconducting infrared detectors, we have developed a fabrication process for nano-antennas. A nano-antenna consists of a dipole antenna, and a superconducting thin film strip placed in the antenna's center. By measuring the transition temperature of the superconducting strips, we confirmed that their superconductivity maintained a good condition after the nano-antenna fabrication process. We also evaluated nano-antenna characteristics using Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy. The evaluated antenna length and width were respectively set at around 2400 nm and 400 nm, and the antennas were placed at intervals of several micrometers around the area of 1 mm2 . In an evaluation of spectral transmission characteristics, clear absorption caused by antenna effects was observed at around 1400 cm-1. High polarization dependencies were also observed.
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Call Number Serial 761
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Author Trifonov, A.; Tong, C.-Y. E.; Blundell, R.; Ryabchun, S.; Gol'tsman, G.
Title Probing the stability of HEB mixers with microwave injection Type Journal Article
Year 2015 Publication (down) IEEE Trans. Appl. Supercond. Abbreviated Journal IEEE Trans. Appl. Supercond.
Volume 25 Issue 3 Pages 2300404 (1 to 4)
Keywords NbN HEB mixer, stability, Allan-variance
Abstract Using a microwave probe as a tool, we have performed experiments aimed at understanding the origin of the output-power fluctuations in hot-electron-bolometer (HEB) mixers. We use a probe frequency of 1.5 GHz. The microwave probe picks up impedance changes of the HEB, which are examined upon demodulation of the reflected wave outside the cryostat. This study shows that the HEB mixer operates in two different regimes under a terahertz pump. At a low pumping level, strong pulse modulation is observed, as the device switches between the superconducting state and the normal state at a rate of a few megahertz. When pumped much harder, to approximate the low-noise mixer operating point, residual modulation can still be observed, showing that the HEB mixer is intrinsically unstable even in the resistive state. Based on these observations, we introduced a low-frequency termination to the HEB mixer. By terminating the device in a 50-Ω resistor in the megahertz frequency range, we have been able to improve the output-power Allan time of our HEB receiver by a factor of four to about 10 s for a detection bandwidth of 15 MHz, with a corresponding gain fluctuation of about 0.035%.
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ISSN 1051-8223 ISBN Medium
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Notes Approved no
Call Number Serial 1355
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Author Lobanov, Y.; Shcherbatenko, M.; Finkel, M.; Maslennikov, S.; Semenov, A.; Voronov, B. M.; Rodin, A. V.; Klapwijk, T. M.; Gol'tsman, G. N.
Title NbN hot-electron-bolometer mixer for operation in the near-IR frequency range Type Journal Article
Year 2015 Publication (down) IEEE Trans. Appl. Supercond. Abbreviated Journal IEEE Trans. Appl. Supercond.
Volume 25 Issue 3 Pages 2300704 (1 to 4)
Keywords HEB mixer, IR, optical antenna
Abstract Traditionally, hot-electron-bolometer (HEB) mixers are employed for THz and “super-THz” heterodyne detection. To explore the near-IR spectral range, we propose a fiber-coupled NbN film based HEB mixer. To enhance the incident-light absorption, a quasi-antenna consisting of a set of parallel stripes of gold is used. To study the antenna effect on the mixer performance, we have experimentally studied a set of devices with different size of the Au stripe and spacing between the neighboring stripes. With use of the well-known isotherm technique we have estimated the absorption efficiency of the mixer, and the maximum efficiency has been observed for devices with the smallest pitch of the alternating NbN and NbN-Au stripes. Also, a proper alignment of the incident Eâƒ<2014>-field with respect to the stripes allows us to improve the coupling further. Studying IV-characteristics of the mixer under differently-aligned Eâƒ<2014>-field of the incident radiation, we have noticed a difference in their shape. This observation suggests that a difference exists in the way the two waves with orthogonal polarizations parallel and perpendicular Eâƒ<2014>-field to the stripes heat the electrons in the HEB mixer. The latter results in a variation in the electron temperature distribution over the HEB device irradiated by the two waves.
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Notes Approved no
Call Number Serial 952
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