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Karpov A, Miller D, Stern JA, Bumble B, LeDuc HG, Zmuidzinas J. Low noise NbTiN 1.25 THz SIS mixer for Herschel Space Observatory. In: Proc. 16th Int. Symp. Space Terahertz Technol. Göteborg, Sweden; 2005. 450.
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González FJ, Boreman GD. Comparison of dipole, bowtie, spiral and log-periodic IR antennas. Inf Phys & Technol. 2005;46(5):418–28.
Abstract: Antenna-coupled microbolometers use planar lithographic antennas to couple infrared radiation into a bolometer with sub-micron dimensions. In this paper four different types of infrared antennas were fabricated on thin grounded-substrates and coupled to microbolometers. Dipole, bowtie, spiral and log-periodic IR antenna-coupled detectors were measured at 10.6 μm and their performance compared. A new method to calculate the radiation efficiency based on the spatial and angular response of infrared antennas is presented and used to evaluate their performance. The calculated radiation efficiency for the dipole, bowtie, spiral and log-periodic IR antennas was 20%, 37%, 25% and 46% respectively. A dipole-length study was performed and shows that the quasistatic value of the effective permittivity accurately describes the incident wavelength in the substrate at infrared frequencies for antennas on a thin substrate.
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Finkel MI, Maslennikov SN, Vachtomin YB, Svechnikov SI, Smirnov KV, Seleznev VA, et al. Hot electron bolometer mixer for 20 – 40 THz frequency range. In: Proc. 16th Int. Symp. Space Terahertz Technol. Göteborg, Sweden; 2005. p. 393–7.
Abstract: The developed HEB mixer was based on a 5 nm thick NbN film deposited on a GaAs substrate. The active area of the film was patterned as a 30×20 μm 2 strip and coupled with a 50 Ohm coplanar line deposited in situ. An extended hemispherical germanium lens was used to focus the LO radiation on the mixer. The responsivity of the mixer was measured in a direct detection mode in the 25÷64 THz frequency range. The noise performance of the mixer and the directivity of the receiver were investigated in a heterodyne mode. A 10.6 μm wavelength CW CO 2 laser was utilized as a local oscillator.
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Loudkov D, Tong C-YE, Marrone DP, Ryabchun S, Paine SN, Blundell R. Transmission measurements of infrared filters for low-noise terahertz receiver applications. In: Proc. 16th Int. Symp. Space Terahertz Technol.; 2005. p. 354–7.
Abstract: Infrared (IR) filters are very important to the efficient operation of cryogenic receivers. Usually, such filters are mounted on the radiation shield of the cryostat to reduce the heat load to the 4 K stage. Insufficient filtering may cause the temperature of the mixing element in a receiver to be excessively warm, leading to degradation in sensitivity. These filters should be effective in blocking the room temperature IR radiation from outside the cryostat, yet should be transparent across the desired signal frequency band. In the Terahertz frequency range, which is close to the infrared, it is difficult to find an inexpensive low- loss material that can provide the required IR blocking capacity. We present transmission measurements, made using a Fourier Transform Spectrometer (FTS), of a number of potential infrared filters between 0.4 and 1.6 THz. The filters tested include the widely-used, Teflon-based, Zitex-A and Zitex-G films, alkali halide based infrared filter, and crystalline quartz coated with Parylene, and polyethylene films.
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Okunev O, Chulkova G, Milostnaya I, Antipov A, Smirnov K, Morozov D, et al. Registration of infrared single photons by a two-channel receiver based on fiber-coupled superconducting single-photon detectors. In: Proc. 2-nd CAOL. Vol 2.; 2005. p. 282–5.
Abstract: Single-photon detectors (SPDs) are the foundation of all quantum communications (QC) protocols. Among different classes of SPDs currently studied, NbN superconducting SPDs (SSPDs) are established as the best devices for ultrafast counting of single photons in the infrared (IR) wavelength range. The SSPDs are nanostructured, 100 /spl mu/m/sup 2/ in total area, superconducting meanders, patterned by electron lithography in ultra-thin NbN films. Their operation has been explained within a phenomenological hot-electron photoresponse model. We present the design and performance of a novel, two-channel SPD receiver, based on two fiber-coupled NbN SSPDs. The receivers have been developed for fiber-based QC systems, operational at 1.3 /spl mu/m and 1.55 /spl mu/m telecommunication wavelengths. They operate in the temperature range from 4.2 K to 2 K, in which the NbN SSPDs exhibit their best performance. The receiver unit has been designed as a cryostat insert, placed inside a standard liquid-helium storage dewar. The input of the receiver consists of a pair of single-mode optical fibers, equipped with the standard FC connectors and kept at room temperature. Coupling between the SSPD and the fiber is achieved using a specially designed, precise micromechanical holder that places the fiber directly on top of the SSPD nanostructure. Our receivers achieve the quantum efficiency of up to 7% for near-IR photons, with the coupling efficiency of about 30%. The response time was measured to be <300 ps and it was limited by our read-out electronics. The jitter of fiber-coupled SSPDs is <35 ps and their dark-count rate is below 1 s/sup -1/. The presented performance parameters show that our single-photon receivers are fully applicable for quantum-correlation-type QC systems, including practical quantum cryptography.
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