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Trifonov, A., Tong, C. - Y. E., Lobanov, Y., Kaurova, N., Blundell, R., & Goltsman, G. (2017). Photon absorption near the gap frequency in a hot electron bolometer. IEEE Trans. Appl. Supercond., 27(4), 1–4.
Abstract: The superconducting energy gap is a fundamental characteristic of a superconducting film, which, together with the applied pump power and the biasing setup, defines the instantaneous resistive state of the Hot Electron Bolometer (HEB) mixer at any given bias point on the I-V curve. In this paper we report on a series of experiments, in which we subjected the HEB to radiation over a wide frequency range along with parallel microwave injection. We have observed three distinct regimes of operation of the HEB, depending on whether the radiation is above the gap frequency, far below it or close to it. These regimes are driven by the different patterns of photon absorption. The experiments have allowed us to derive the approximate gap frequency of the device under test as about 585 GHz. Microwave injection was used to probe the HEB impedance. Spontaneous switching between the superconducting (low resistive) state and a quasi-normal (high resistive) state was observed. The switching pattern depends on the particular regime of HEB operation and can assume a random pattern at pump frequencies below the gap to a regular relaxation oscillation running at a few MHz when pumped above the gap.
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Antipov, S., Trifonov, A., Krause, S., Meledin, D., Kaurova, N., Rudzinski, M., et al. (2019). Improved bandwidth of a 2 THz hot-electron bolometer heterodyne mixer fabricated on sapphire with a GaN buffer layer. Supercond. Sci. Technol., 32(7), 075003.
Abstract: We report on the signal-to-noise and gain bandwidth of a niobium nitride (NbN) hot-electron bolometer (HEB) mixer at 2 THz fabricated on a sapphire substrate with a GaN buffer layer. Two mixers with different DC properties and geometrical dimensions were studied and they demonstrated very close bandwidth performance. The signal-to-noise bandwidth is increased to 8 GHz in comparison to the previous results, obtained without a buffer-layer. The data were taken in a quasi-optical system with the use of the signal-to-noise method, which is close to the signal levels used in actual astrophysical observations. We find an increase of the gain bandwidth to 5 GHz. The results indicate that prior results obtained on a substrate of crystalline GaN can also be obtained on a conventional sapphire substrate with a few micron MOCVD-deposited GaN buffer-layer.
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Tret’yakov, I. V., Ryabchun, S. A., Kaurova, N. S., Larionov, P. A., Lobastova, A. A., Voronov, B. M., et al. (2010). Optimum absorbed heterodyne power for superconducting NbN hot-electron bolometer mixer. Tech. Phys. Lett., 36(12), 1103–1105.
Abstract: Absorbed heterodyne power has been measured in a low-noise broadband hot-electron bolometer (HEB) mixer for the terahertz range, operating on the effect of electron heating in the resistive state of an ultrathin superconducting NbN film. It is established that the optimum absorbed heterodyne power for the HEB mixer operating at 2.5 THz is about 100 nW.
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Zhang, W., Miao, W., Yao, Q. J., Lin, Z. H., Shi, S. C., Gao, J. R., et al. (2012). Spectral response and noise temperature of a 2.5 THz spiral antenna coupled NbN HEB mixer. Phys. Procedia, 36, 334–337.
Abstract: We report on a 2.5 THz spiral antenna coupled NbN hot electron bolometer (HEB) mixers, fabricated with in-situ process. The receiver noise temperature with lowest value of 1180 K is in good agreement with calculated quantum efficiency factor as a function of bias voltage. In addition, the measured spectral response of the spiral antenna coupled NbN HEB mixer shows broad frequency coverage of 0.8-3 THz, and corrected response for optical losses, FTS, and coupling efficiency between antenna and bolometer falls with frequency due to diffraction-limited beam of lens/antenna combination.
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Gol'tsman, G. N. (1999). Hot electron bolometric mixers: new terahertz technology. Infrared Physics & Technology, 40(3), 199–206.
Abstract: This paper presents an overview of recent results for NbN phonon-cooled hot electron bolometric (HEB) mixers. The noise temperature of the receivers based on both quasioptical and waveguide versions of HEB mixers has crossed the level of 1 K GHz−1 at 430 GHz (410 K), 600–650 GHz (480 K), 750 GHz (600 K), 810 GHz (780 K) and is close to that level at 1.1 THz (1250 K) and 2.5 THz (4500 K). The gain bandwidth measured for quasioptical HEB mixer at 620 GHz reached 4 GHz and the noise temperature bandwidth was almost 8 GHz. Local oscillator power requirements are about 1 μW for mixers made by photolithography and about 100 nW for mixers made by e-beam lithography. A waveguide version of 800 GHz receiver was installed at the Submillimeter Telescope Observatory on Mt. Graham, AZ, to conduct astronomical observations of known submillimeter lines (CO, J=7→6, CI, J=2→1). It was proved that the receiver works as a practical instrument.
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