Smirnov KV, Ptitsina NG, Vakhtomin YB, Verevkin AA, Gol’tsman GN, Gershenzon EM. Energy relaxation of two-dimensional electrons in the quantum Hall effect regime. JETP Lett. 2000;71(1):31–4.
Abstract: The mm-wave spectroscopy with high temporal resolution is used to measure the energy relaxation times τe of 2D electrons in GaAs/AlGaAs heterostructures in magnetic fields B=0–4 T under quasi-equilibrium conditions at T=4.2 K. With increasing B, a considerable increase in τe from 0.9 to 25 ns is observed. For high B and low values of the filling factor ν, the energy relaxation rate τ −1e oscillates. The depth of these oscillations and the positions of maxima depend on the filling factor ν. For ν>5, the relaxation rate τ −1e is maximum when the Fermi level lies in the region of the localized states between the Landau levels. For lower values of ν, the relaxation rate is maximum at half-integer values of τ −1e when the Fermi level is coincident with the Landau level. The characteristic features of the dependence τ −1e (B) are explained by different contributions of the intralevel and interlevel electron-phonon transitions to the process of the energy relaxation of 2D electrons.
|
Verevkin AA, Ptitsina NG, Smirnov KV, Gol’tsman GN, Gershenzon EM, Ingvesson KS. Direct measurements of energy relaxation times on an AlGaAs/GaAs heterointerface in the range 4.2–50 K. JETP Lett. 1996;64(5):404–9.
Abstract: The temperature dependence of the energy relaxation time τe (T) of a two-dimensional electron gas at an AlGaAs/GaAs heterointerface is measured under quasiequilibrium conditions in the region of the transition from scattering by acoustic phonons to scattering with the participation of optical phonons. The temperature interval of constant τe, where scattering by the deformation potential predominates, is determined. In the preceding, low-temperature region, where piezoacoustic and deformation-potential-induced scattering processes coexist, τ e decreases slowly with increasing temperature. Optical phonons start to participate in the scattering processes at T∼25 K (the characteristic phonon lifetime was equal to τLOτ4.5 ps). The energy losses calculated from the τe data in a model with an effective nonequilibrium electron temperature agree with the published data obtained under strong heating conditions.
|
Maingault L, Tarkhov M, Florya I, Semenov A, Espiau de Lamaëstre R, Cavalier P, et al. Spectral dependency of superconducting single photon detectors. J Appl Phys. 2010;107(11):116103 (1 to 3).
Abstract: We investigate the effect of varying both incoming optical wavelength and width of NbN nanowires on the superconducting single photon detectors (SSPD) detection efficiency. The SSPD are current biased close to critical value and temperature fixed at 4.2 K, far from transition. The experimental results are found to verify with a good accuracy predictions based on the “hot spot model,” whose size scales with the absorbed photon energy. With larger optical power inducing multiphoton detection regime, the same scaling law remains valid, up to the three-photon regime. We demonstrate the validity of applying a limited number of measurements and using such a simple model to reasonably predict any SSPD behavior among a collection of nanowire device widths at different photon wavelengths. These results set the basis for designing efficient single photon detectors operating in the infrared (2–5 μm range).
This work was supported by European projects FP6 STREP “SINPHONIA” (Contract No. NMP4-CT-2005-16433) and IP “QAP” (Contract No. 15848).
|
Baselmans JJA, Baryshev A, Reker SF, Hajenius M, Gao JR, Klapwijk TM, et al. Influence of the direct response on the heterodyne sensitivity of hot electron bolometer mixers. J Appl Phys. 2006;100(8):084510 (1 to 7).
Abstract: We present a detailed experimental study of the direct detection effect in a small volume (0.15μm×1μm×3.5nm) quasioptical NbN phonon cooled hot electron bolometer mixer at 673GHz. We find that the small signal noise temperature, relevant for an astronomical observation, is 20% lower than the noise temperature obtained using 300 and 77K calibration loads. In a separate set of experiments we show that the direct detection effect is caused by a combination of bias current reduction when switching from the 77 to the 300K
load in combination with the bias current dependence of the receiver gain. The bias current dependence of the receiver gain is shown to be mainly caused by the current dependence of the mixer gain.
|
Kooi JW, Baselmans JJA, Baryshev A, Schieder R, Hajenius M, Gao JR, et al. Stability of heterodyne terahertz receivers. J Appl Phys. 2006;100(6):064904 (1 to 9).
Abstract: In this paper we discuss the stability of heterodyne terahertz receivers based on small volume NbN phonon cooled hot electron bolometers (HEBs). The stability of these receivers can be broken down in two parts: the intrinsic stability of the HEB mixer and the stability of the local oscillator (LO) signal injection scheme. Measurements show that the HEB mixer stability is limited by gain fluctuations with a 1∕f spectral distribution. In a 60MHz noise bandwidth this results in an Allan variance stability time of ∼0.3s. Measurement of the spectroscopic Allan variance between two intermediate frequency (IF) channels results in a much longer Allan variance stability time, i.e., 3s between a 2.5 and a 4.7GHz channel, and even longer for more closely spaced channels. This implies that the HEB mixer 1∕f noise is strongly correlated across the IF band and that the correlation gets stronger the closer the IF channels are spaced. In the second part of the paper we discuss atmospheric and mechanical system stability requirements on the LO-mixer cavity path length. We calculate the mixer output noise fluctuations as a result of small perturbations of the LO-mixer standing wave, and find very stringent mechanical and atmospheric tolerance requirements for receivers operating at terahertz frequencies.
|
