|
Records |
Links |
|
Author |
Pütz, P.; Honingh, C. E.; Jacobs, K.; Justen, M.; Schultz, M.; Stutzki, J. |
|
|
Title |
Terahertz hot electron bolometer waveguide mixers for GREAT |
Type |
Journal Article |
|
Year |
2012 |
Publication |
Astron. Astrophys. |
Abbreviated Journal |
A&A |
|
|
Volume |
542 |
Issue |
|
Pages |
L2 |
|
|
Keywords |
HEB mixer, applications |
|
|
Abstract |
Context. Supplementing the publications based on the first-light observations with the German REceiver for Astronomy at Terahertz frequencies (GREAT) on SOFIA, we present background information on the underlying heterodyne detector technology. This Letter complements the GREAT instrument Letter and focuses on the mixers itself.
Aims. We describe the superconducting hot electron bolometer (HEB) detectors that are used as frequency mixers in the L1 (1400 GHz), L2 (1900 GHz), and M (2500 GHz) channels of GREAT. Measured performance of the detectors is presented and background information on their operation in GREAT is given.
Methods. Our mixer units are waveguide-based and couple to free-space radiation via a feedhorn antenna. The HEB mixers are designed, fabricated, characterized, and flight-qualified in-house. We are able to use the full intermediate frequency bandwidth of the mixers using silicon-germanium multi-octave cryogenic low-noise amplifiers with very low input return loss.
Results. Superconducting HEB mixers have proven to be practical and sensitive detectors for high-resolution THz frequency spectroscopy on SOFIA. We show that our niobium-titanium-nitride (NbTiN) material HEBs on silicon nitride (SiN) membrane substrates have an intermediate frequency (IF) noise roll-off frequency above 2.8 GHz, which does not limit the current receiver IF bandwidth. Our mixer technology development efforts culminate in the first successful operation of a waveguide-based HEB mixer at 2.5 THz and deployment for radioastronomy. A significant contribution to the success of GREAT is made by technological development, thorough characterization and performance optimization of the mixer and its IF interface for receiver operation on SOFIA. In particular, the development of an optimized mixer IF interface contributes to the low passband ripple and excellent stability, which GREAT demonstrated during its initial successful astronomical observation runs. |
|
|
Address |
|
|
|
Corporate Author |
|
Thesis |
|
|
|
Publisher |
|
Place of Publication |
|
Editor |
|
|
|
Language |
|
Summary Language |
|
Original Title |
|
|
|
Series Editor |
|
Series Title |
|
Abbreviated Series Title |
|
|
|
Series Volume |
|
Series Issue |
|
Edition |
|
|
|
ISSN |
|
ISBN |
|
Medium |
|
|
|
Area |
|
Expedition |
|
Conference |
|
|
|
Notes |
|
Approved |
no |
|
|
Call Number |
|
Serial |
907 |
|
Permanent link to this record |
|
|
|
|
Author |
Cherednichenko, Sergey; Drakinskiy, Vladimir; Berg, Therese; Khosropanah, Pourya; Kollberg, Erik |
|
|
Title |
Hot-electron bolometer terahertz mixers for the Herschel Space Observatory |
Type |
Journal Article |
|
Year |
2008 |
Publication |
Review of Scientific Instruments |
Abbreviated Journal |
Rev. Sci. Instrum. |
|
|
Volume |
79 |
Issue |
|
Pages |
034501 |
|
|
Keywords |
HEB mixer, HEB detector, HEB direct detector, applications |
|
|
Abstract |
We report on low noise terahertz mixers(1.4–1.9THz) developed for the heterodyne spectrometer onboard the Herschel Space Observatory. The mixers employ double slot antenna integrated superconducting hot-electron bolometers (HEBs) made of thin NbN films. The mixer performance was characterized in terms of detection sensitivity across the entire rf band by using a Fourier transform spectrometer (from 0.5to2.5THz, with 30GHz resolution) and also by measuring the mixernoise temperature at a limited number of discrete frequencies. The lowest mixernoise temperature recorded was 750K [double sideband (DSB)] at 1.6THz and 950KDSB at 1.9THz local oscillator (LO) frequencies. Averaged across the intermediate frequency band of 2.4–4.8GHz, the mixernoise temperature was 1100KDSB at 1.6THz and 1450KDSB at 1.9THz LO frequencies. The HEB heterodyne receiver stability has been analyzed and compared to the HEB stability in the direct detection mode. The optimal local oscillator power was determined and found to be in a 200–500nW range. |
|
|
Address |
|
|
|
Corporate Author |
|
Thesis |
|
|
|
Publisher |
|
Place of Publication |
|
Editor |
|
|
|
Language |
|
Summary Language |
|
Original Title |
|
|
|
Series Editor |
|
Series Title |
|
Abbreviated Series Title |
|
|
|
Series Volume |
|
Series Issue |
|
Edition |
|
|
|
ISSN |
|
ISBN |
|
Medium |
|
|
|
Area |
|
Expedition |
|
Conference |
|
|
|
Notes |
|
Approved |
no |
|
|
Call Number |
|
Serial |
908 |
|
Permanent link to this record |
|
|
|
|
Author |
Yagoubov, P.; Kroug, M.; Merkel, H.; Kollberg, E.; Gol'tsman, G.; Svechnikov, S.; Gershenzon, E. |
|
|
Title |
Noise temperature and local oscillator power requirement of NbN phonon-cooled hot electron bolometric mixers at terahertz frequencies |
Type |
Journal Article |
|
Year |
1998 |
Publication |
Appl. Phys. Lett. |
Abbreviated Journal |
Appl. Phys. Lett. |
|
|
Volume |
73 |
Issue |
19 |
Pages |
2814-2816 |
|
|
Keywords |
NbN HEB mixers, noise temperature, local oscillator power |
|
|
Abstract |
In this letter, the noise performance of NbN-based phonon-cooled hot electron bolometric quasioptical mixers is investigated in the 0.55–1.1 THz frequency range. The best results of the double-sideband <cd><2018>DSB<cd><2019> noise temperature are: 500 K at 640 GHz, 600 K at 750 GHz, 850 K at 910 GHz, and 1250 K at 1.1 THz. The water vapor in the signal path causes significant contribution to the measured receiver noise temperature around 1.1 THz. The devices are made from 3-nm-thick NbN film on high-resistivity Si and integrated with a planar spiral antenna on the same substrate. The in-plane dimensions of the bolometer strip are typically 0.2Ï«2 um. The amount of local oscillator power absorbed in the bolometer is less than 100 nW. |
|
|
Address |
|
|
|
Corporate Author |
|
Thesis |
|
|
|
Publisher |
|
Place of Publication |
|
Editor |
|
|
|
Language |
|
Summary Language |
|
Original Title |
|
|
|
Series Editor |
|
Series Title |
|
Abbreviated Series Title |
|
|
|
Series Volume |
|
Series Issue |
|
Edition |
|
|
|
ISSN |
|
ISBN |
|
Medium |
|
|
|
Area |
|
Expedition |
|
Conference |
|
|
|
Notes |
|
Approved |
no |
|
|
Call Number |
|
Serial |
911 |
|
Permanent link to this record |
|
|
|
|
Author |
Gurevich, A. Vl.; Mints, R. G. |
|
|
Title |
Self-heating in normal metals and superconductors |
Type |
Journal Article |
|
Year |
1987 |
Publication |
Rev. Mod. Phys. |
Abbreviated Journal |
|
|
|
Volume |
59 |
Issue |
4 |
Pages |
941-1000 |
|
|
Keywords |
HEB, Joule self-heating effect |
|
|
Abstract |
This review is devoted to the physics of current-carrying superconductors and normal metals having two or more stable states sustained by Joule self-heating. The creation, propagation, and localization of electrothermal domains and switching waves leading to the transition from one stable state to another in uniform and nonuniform samples are treated in detail. The connection between thermal bistability and hysteresis, dropping and stepped current-voltage characteristics, self-induced oscillations of current and voltage, selfreplication of electrothermal domains, and the formation of periodic and stochastic resistive structures are considered. |
|
|
Address |
|
|
|
Corporate Author |
|
Thesis |
|
|
|
Publisher |
|
Place of Publication |
|
Editor |
|
|
|
Language |
|
Summary Language |
|
Original Title |
|
|
|
Series Editor |
|
Series Title |
|
Abbreviated Series Title |
|
|
|
Series Volume |
|
Series Issue |
|
Edition |
|
|
|
ISSN |
|
ISBN |
|
Medium |
|
|
|
Area |
|
Expedition |
|
Conference |
|
|
|
Notes |
|
Approved |
no |
|
|
Call Number |
|
Serial |
917 |
|
Permanent link to this record |
|
|
|
|
Author |
Pekker, David; Shah, Nayana; Sahu, Mitrabhanu; Bezryadin, Alexey; Goldbart, Paul M. |
|
|
Title |
Stochastic dynamics of phase-slip trains and superconductive-resistive switching in current-biased nanowires |
Type |
Journal Article |
|
Year |
2009 |
Publication |
Phys. Rev. B |
Abbreviated Journal |
|
|
|
Volume |
80 |
Issue |
|
Pages |
214525 (1 to 17) |
|
|
Keywords |
superconducting nanowire, phase-slip, order parameter, HEB distributed model, HEB model |
|
|
Abstract |
Superconducting nanowires fabricated via carbon-nanotube templating can be used to realize and study quasi-one-dimensional superconductors. However, measurement of the linear resistance of these nanowires have been inconclusive in determining the low-temperature behavior of phase-slip fluctuations, both quantal and thermal. Thus, we are motivated to study the nonlinear current-voltage characteristics in current-biased nanowires and the stochastic dynamics of superconductive-resistive switching, as a way of probing phase-slip events. In particular, we address the question: can a single phase-slip event occurring somewhere along the wire—during which the order-parameter fluctuates to zero—induce switching, via the local heating it causes? We explore this and related issues by constructing a stochastic model for the time evolution of the temperature in a nanowire whose ends are maintained at a fixed temperature. We derive the corresponding master equation as a tool for evaluating and analyzing the mean switching time at a given value of current (smaller than the depairing critical current). The model indicates that although, in general, several phase-slip events are necessary to induce switching via a thermal runaway, there is indeed a regime of temperatures and currents in which a single event is sufficient. We carry out a detailed comparison of the results of the model with experimental measurements of the distribution of switching currents, and provide an explanation for the rather counterintuitive broadening of the distribution width that is observed upon lowering the temperature. Moreover, we identify a regime in which the experiments are probing individual phase-slip events, and thus offer a way of unearthing and exploring the physics of nanoscale quantum tunneling of the one-dimensional collective quantum field associated with the superconducting order parameter. |
|
|
Address |
|
|
|
Corporate Author |
|
Thesis |
|
|
|
Publisher |
|
Place of Publication |
|
Editor |
|
|
|
Language |
|
Summary Language |
|
Original Title |
|
|
|
Series Editor |
|
Series Title |
|
Abbreviated Series Title |
|
|
|
Series Volume |
|
Series Issue |
|
Edition |
|
|
|
ISSN |
|
ISBN |
|
Medium |
|
|
|
Area |
|
Expedition |
|
Conference |
|
|
|
Notes |
Recommended by Klapwijk |
Approved |
no |
|
|
Call Number |
|
Serial |
923 |
|
Permanent link to this record |