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Kawamura, J., Blundell, R., Tong, C. - Y. E., Gol'tsman, G., Gershenzon, E., Voronov, B., et al. (1997). Phonon-cooled NbN HEB mixers for submillimeter wavelengths. In Proc. 8th Int. Symp. Space Terahertz Technol. (pp. 23–28).
Abstract: The noise performance of receivers incorporating NbN phonon-cooled superconducting hot electron bolometric mixers is measured from 200 GHz to 900 GHz. The mixer elements are thin-film (thickness — 4 nm) NbN with —5 to 40 pm area fabricated on crystalline quartz sub- strates. The receiver noise temperature from 200 GHz to 900 GHz demonstrates no unexpected degradation with increasing frequency, being roughly TRx ,; 1-2 K The best receiver noise temperatures are 410 K (DSB) at 430 GHz, 483 K at 636 GHz, and 1150 K at 800 GHz.
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Gerecht, E., Musante, C. F., Wang, Z., Yngvesson, K. S., Waldman, J., Gol'tsman, G. N., et al. (1997). NbN hot electron bolometric mixer for 2.5 THz: the phonon cooled version. In Proc. 8th Int. Symp. Space Terahertz Technol. (pp. 258–271).
Abstract: We describe an investigation of a NbN HEB mixer for 2.5 THz. NbN HEBs are phonon-cooled de-. vices which are expected, according to theory, to achieve up to 10 GHz IF conversion gain bandwidth. We have developed an antenna coupled device using a log-periodic antenna and a silicon lens. We have demon- strated that sufficient LO power can be coupled to the device in order to bring it to the optimum mixer oper- ating point. The LO power required is less than 1 microwatts as measured directly at the device. We also describe the impedance characteristics of NbN devices and compare them with theory. The experimental results agree with theory except for the imaginary part of the impedance at very low frequencies as was demonstrated by other groups.
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Yagubov, P., Gol'tsman, G., Voronov, B., Seidman, L., Siomash, V., Cherednichenko, S., et al. (1996). The bandwidth of HEB mixers employing ultrathin NbN films on sapphire substrate. In Proc. 7th Int. Symp. Space Terahertz Technol. (pp. 290–302). Charlottesville, Virginia, USA.
Abstract: We report on some unusual features observed during fabrication of ultrathin NbN films with high Tc. The films were used to fabricate HEB mixers, which were evaluated for IF bandwidth measurements at 140 GHz. Ultrathin films were fabricated using reactive dc magnetron sputtering with a discharge current source. Reproducible parameters of the films are assured keeping constant the difference between the discharge voltage in pure argon, and in a gas mixture, for the same current. A maximum bandwidth of 4 GHz at optimal LO and dc bias was obtained for mixer chip based on NbN film 35 A thick with Tc = 11 K.
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Yagoubov, P., Gol'tsman, G., Voronov, B., Svechnikov, S., Cherednichenko, S., Gershenzon, E., et al. (1996). Quasioptical phonon-cooled NbN hot-electron bolometer mixer at THz frequencies. In Proc. 7th Int. Symp. Space Terahertz Technol. (pp. 303–317).
Abstract: In our experiments we tested phonon-cooled hot-electron bolometer (HEB) quasioptical mixer based on spiral antenna designed for 0.5-1.2 THz frequency band and fabricated on sapphire, Si-coated sapphire and high resistivity silicon substrates. HEB devices were produced from thin superconducting NbN film 3.5-6 nm thick with the critical temperature of about 11-12 K. For these devices we achieved the receiver noise temperature T R (DSB) = 3000 K in the 500-700 GHz frequency range and an IF bandwidth of 3-4 GHz. Prelimanary measurements at frequencies 1-1.2 THz resulted the receiver noise temperature about 9000 K (DSB).
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Blundell, R., Kawamura, J. H., Tong, C. E., Papa, D. C., Hunter, T. R., Gol’tsman, G. N., et al. (1998). A hot-electron bolometer mixer receiver for the 680-830 GHz frequency range. In Proc. 6-th Int. Conf. Terahertz Electron. (pp. 18–20). IEEE.
Abstract: We describe a heterodyne receiver designed to operate in the partially transparent atmospheric windows centered on 680 and 830 GHz. The receiver incorporates a niobium nitride thin film, cooled to 4.2 K, as the phonon-cooled hot-electron mixer element. The double sideband receiver noise, measured over the frequency range 680-830 GHz, is typically 700-1300 K. The instantaneous output bandwidth of the receiver is 600 MHz. This receiver has recently been used at the SubMillimeter Telescope, jointly operated by the Steward Observatory and the Max Planck Institute for Radioastronomy, for observations of the neutral carbon and CO spectral lines at 810 GHz and at 806 and 691 GHz respectively. Laboratory measurements on a second mixer in the same test receiver have yielded extended high frequency performance to 1 THz.
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