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Gonzalez, F. J., Ilic, B., Alda, J., & Boreman, G. D. (2005). Antenna-coupled infrared detectors for imaging applications. IEEE J. Sel. Topics Quantum Electron., 11(1), 117–120.
Abstract: Infrared focal plane arrays (IRFPAs) are a critical component in advanced infrared imaging systems. IRFPAs are made up of two parts, a detector array and a readout integrated circuit (ROIC) multiplexer. Current ROIC technology has typical pitch sizes of 20×20 to 50×50 μm2. In order to make antenna-coupled detectors suited for infrared imaging systems, two-dimensional (2-D) arrays have been fabricated that cover a whole pixel area with the penalty of increasing the noise figure of the detector and, therefore, reducing its performance. By coupling a Fresnel zone plate lens to a single element antenna-coupled detector, infrared radiation can be collected over a typical pixel area and still keep low-noise levels. A Fresnel zone plate lens coupled to a single-element square-spiral-coupled infrared detector has been fabricated and its performance compared to single element antenna-coupled detectors and 2-D arrays of antenna coupled detectors. Measurements made at 10.6 μm showed a two-order-of-magnitude increase in SNR and a ~× increase in D* as compared to 2-D arrays of antenna-coupled detectors.
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Novotny, L., & van Hulst, N. (2011). Antennas for light. Nat. Photon., 5(2), 83–90.
Abstract: Optical antennas are devices that convert freely propagating optical radiation into localized energy, and vice versa. They enable the control and manipulation of optical fields at the nanometre scale, and hold promise for enhancing the performance and efficiency of photodetection, light emission and sensing. Although many of the properties and parameters of optical antennas are similar to their radiowave and microwave counterparts, they have important differences resulting from their small size and the resonant properties of metal nanostructures. This Review summarizes the physical properties of optical antennas, provides a summary of some of the most important recent developments in the field, discusses the potential applications and identifies the future challenges and opportunities.
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Bozyigit, D., Lang, C., Steffen, L., Fink, J. M., Eichler, C., Baur, M., et al. (2011). Antibunching of microwave-frequency photons observed in correlation measurements using linear detectors. Nat. Phys., 7(2), 154–158.
Abstract: At optical frequencies the radiation produced by a source, such as a laser, a black body or a single-photon emitter, is frequently characterized by analysing the temporal correlations of emitted photons using single-photon counters. At microwave frequencies, however, there are no efficient single-photon counters yet. Instead, well-developed linear amplifiers allow for efficient measurement of the amplitude of an electromagnetic field. Here, we demonstrate first- and second-order correlation function measurements of a pulsed microwave-frequency single-photon source integrated on the same chip with a 50/50 beam splitter followed by linear amplifiers and quadrature amplitude detectors. We clearly observe single-photon coherence in first-order and photon antibunching in second-order correlation function measurements of the propagating fields.
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Meledin D., Desmaris V., Ferm S.-E., Fredrixon M., Henke D., Lapkin I., et al. (2008). APEX Band T2: A 1.25 – 1.39 THz Waveguide Balanced HEB Receiver.181–185.
Abstract: A waveguide 1.25–1.39 THz Hot Electron Bolometer (HEB) balanced receiver was successfully developed, characterized and installed at the Atacama Pathfinder EXperiment (APEX) telescope. The receiver employs a quadrature balanced scheme using a waveguide 90-degree 3 dB RF hybrid, HEB mixers and a 180-degree IF hybrid. The HEB mixers are based on ultrathin NbN film deposited on crystalline quartz with a MgO buffer layer. Integrated into the multi-channel APEX facility receiver (SHeFI), the results presented here demonstrate exceptional performance; a receiver noise temperature of 1000 K measured at the telescope at the center of the receiver IF band 2-4 GHz, and at an LO frequency of 1294 GHz. Stability of the receiver is fully in line with the SIS mixer bands of the SHeFI, and gives a spectroscopic Allan time of more than 200 s with a noise bandwidth of 1 MHz.
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Maezawa, H. (2015). Application of superconducting hot-electron bolometer mixers for terahertz-band astronomy. IEICE Trans. Electronics, 98(3), 196–206.
Abstract: Recently, a next-generation heterodyne mixer detector – a hot electron bolometer (HEB) mixer employing a superconducting microbridge – has gradually opened up terahertz-band astronomy. The surrounding state-of-the-art technologies including fabrication processes, 4 K cryostats, cryogenic low-noise amplifiers, local oscillator sources, micromachining techniques, and spectrometers, as well as the HEB mixers, have played a valuable role in the development of super-low-noise heterodyne spectroscopy systems for the terahertz band. The current developmental status of terahertz-band HEB mixer receivers and their applications for spectroscopy and astronomy with ground-based, airborne, and satellite telescopes are presented.
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