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Trifonov A, Tong C-YE, Lobanov Y, Kaurova N, Blundell R, Goltsman G. Gap frequency and photon absorption in a hot electron bolometer. In: Proc. 27th Int. Symp. Space Terahertz Technol.; 2016. 121.
Abstract: The superconducting energy gap is a crucial parameter of a superconductor when used in mixing applications. In the case of the SIS mixer, the mixing process is efficient for frequencies below the energy gap, whereas, in the case of the HEB mixer, the mixing process is most efficient at frequencies above the gap, where photon absorption takes place more readily. We have investigated the photon absorption phenomenon around the gap frequency of HEB mixers based on NbN films deposited on silicon membranes. Apart from studying the pumped I-V curves of HEB devices, we have also probed them with microwave radiation, as previously described [1]. At frequencies far below the gap frequency, the pumped I-V curves show abrupt switching between the superconducting and resistive states. For the NbN HEB mixers we tested, which have critical temperatures of ~9 K, this is true for frequencies below about 400 GHz. As the pump frequency is increased beyond 400 GHz, the resistive state extends towards zero bias and at some point a small region of negative differential resistance appears close to zero bias. In this region, the microwave probe reveals that the device impedance is changing randomly with time. As the pump frequency is further increased, this random impedance change develops into relaxation oscillations, which can be observed by the demodulation of the reflected microwave probe. Initially, these oscillations take the form of several frequencies grouped together under an envelope. As we approach the gap frequency, the multiple frequency relaxation oscillations coalesce into a single frequency of a few MHz. The resultant square-wave nature of the oscillation is a clear indication that the device is in a bi-stable state, switching between the superconducting and normal state. Above the gap frequency, it is possible to obtain a pumped I-V curve with no negative differential resistance above a threshold pumping level. Below this pumping level, the device demonstrates bi-stability, and regular relaxation oscillation at a few MHz is observed as a function of pump power. The threshold pumping level is clearly related to the amount of power absorbed by the device and its phonon cooling. From the above experiment, we can derive the gap frequency of the NbN film, which is 585 GHz for our 6 μm thin silicon membrane-based device. We also confirm that the HEB mixer is not an efficient photon absorber for radiation below the gap frequency. 1. A. Trifonov et al., “Probing the stability of HEB mixers with microwave injection”, IEEE Trans. Appl. Supercond., vol. 25, no. 3, June 2015.
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Tretyakov I, Maslennikov S, Semenov A, Safir O, Finkel M, Ryabchun S, et al. Impact of operating conditions on noise and gain bandwidth of NbN HEB mixers. In: Proc. 26th Int. Symp. Space Terahertz Technol.; 2015. 39.
Abstract: Hot-electron bolometer mixers (HEB’s) are the most promising devices as mixing element for terahertz spectroscopy and astronomy at frequencies beyond 1.4 THz. They have a low noise temperature and low demands on local oscillator (LO) power. 1,2 An important limitation is the IF bandwidth, of the order of a few GHz, and which in principle depends on energy relaxation due to electron- phonon processes and on diffusion-cooling. It has been proposed by Prober that a reduction in length of the HEB would lead to an increased bandwidth. 3 This appeared to be achieved by Tretyakov et al by measuring the gain bandwidth close to the critical temperature of the NbN. 2 Unfortunately, the noise bandwidth of similar devices operated at temperatures around 4.2 K appear not depend on the length. The fundamental problem to be addressed is the position-dependent superconducting state of the HEB- devices under operating conditions, which determines the conditions for the cooling of the hot quasiparticles. Some progress has been made by Barends et al in a semi-empirical model to describe the I,V curves under operating conditions at a bath temperature around 4.2 K. 4 In more recent work Vercruyssen et al have analyzed the I,V curve, without any LO-equivalent bias, of a model NSN system. 5 This work suggests that the most appropriate model for an HEB under operating conditions is that of a potential-well in the superconducting gap in the center of the NbN, analogous the bimodal superconducting state described by Vercruyssen et al. Hot quasiparticles in the well can not diffuse out and can only cool by electron-phonon processes, those with higher energies than the heights of the walls of the well can diffuse out. Using this working hypothesis we have carried out experiments on a sub-micrometer NbN bridge connected to a gold (Au) planar spiral antenna. An in situ process is used to deposit Au on NbN. The Au is removed in the center to define the uncovered NbN, which will act as the superconducting mixer itself. The antenna is deposited on the remaining Au layer on the NbN. The Au contacts suppress the energy gap of the NbN film located underneath the gold layer 7,8 . The measured resistive transition is shown in Fig.1. It clearly shows a T c of the bilayer at 6.2 K and the resistive transition of the NbN itself around 9 K. In addition we show the measured noise bandwidth (red squares) for different bath temperatures. Clearly the noise bandwidth increases strongly by increasing the bath temperature from 5 K to 8 K, up to 13 GHz. We interpret this pattern as evidence for improved out-diffusion of hot electrons due to normal banks and a shallow superconducting potential well compared to k B T. As expected the noise temperature in this regime is much bigger than when biased at 4.2 K. R EFERENCES 1 W. Zhang, P. Khosropanah, J. R. Gao, E. L. Kollberg, K. S. Yngvesson, T. Bansal, R. Barends, and T. M. Klapwijk Appl. Phys. Lett. 96, 111113, (2010). 2 Ivan Tretyakov, Sergey Ryabchun, Matvey Finkel, Anna Maslennikova, Natalia Kaurova, Anastasia Lobastova, Boris Voronov, and Gregory Gol’tsman Appl. Phys. Lett. 98, 033507 (2011). 3 D. E. Prober, Appl. Phys. Lett. 62, 2119 (1992). 4 R. Barends, M. Hajenius, J. R. Gao, and T. M. Klapwijk, Appl. Phys. Lett. 87, 263506 (2005). 5 N. Vercruyssen, T. G. A. Verhagen, M. G. Flokstra, J. P. Pekola, and T. M. Klapwijk Physical Review B 85, 224503 (2012).
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Tretyakov I, Kaurova N, Voronov BM, Goltsman GN. About effect of the temperature operating conditions on the noise temperature and noise bandwidth of the terahertz range NbN hot-electron bolometers [abstract]. In: Proc. 29th Int. Symp. Space Terahertz Technol.; 2018. 113.
Abstract: Results of an experimental study of the noise temperature (Tn) and noise bandwidth (NBW) of the superconductor NbN hot-electron bolometer (HEB) mixer as a function of its temperature (Tb) and NbN bridge length are presented. It was determined that the NBW of the mixer is significantly wider at temperatures close to the critical ones (Tc) than are values measured at 4.2 K. The NBW of the mixer measured at the heterodyne frequency of 2.5 THz at temperature Tb close to Tc was ~13 GHz, as compared with 6 GHz at Tb = 4.2 K. This experiment clearly demonstrates the limitation of the thermal flow from the NbN bridge at Tb ≪ Tc for mixers manufactured by the in situ technique. This limitation is close in its nature to the Andreev reflection on the superconductor/metal boundary. In this case, the noise temperature of the studied mixer increased from 1100 to 3800 K.
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Semenov A, Richter H, Hübers H-W, Petrenko D, Tretyakov I, Ryabchun S, et al. Optimization of the intermediate frequency bandwidth in the THz HEB mixers [abstract]. In: Proc. 25th Int. Symp. Space Terahertz Technol.; 2014. 54.
Abstract: We report on the studies of the intermediate frequency (IF) bandwidth of quasi-optically coupled NbN hot-electron bolometer (HEB) mixers which are aimed at the optimization of the mixer performance at terahertz frequencies. Extension of the IF bandwidth due to the contribution of electron diffusion to the heat removal from NbN microbolometers has been already demonstrated for NbN HEBs at subterahertz frequencies. However, reducing the size of the microbolometer causes degradation of the noise temperature. Using in-situ multilayer manufacturing process we succeeded to improve the transparency of the contacts for electrons which go away from microbolometer to the metallic antenna. The improved transparency and hence coupling efficiency counterbalances the noise temperature degradation. HEB mixers were tested in a laboratory heterodyne receiver with a narrow-band cold filter which allowed us to eliminate direct detection. We used a local oscillator with a quantum cascade laser (QCL) at a frequency of 4.745 THz [1] which was developed for the H-Channel of the German Receiver for Astronomy at Terahertz frequencies (GREAT). Both the noise and gain bandwidth were measured in the IF range from 0.5 to 8 GHz using the hot-cold technique and preliminary calibrated IF analyzer with a tunable microwave filter. For optimized HEB geometry we found the noise bandwidth as large as 7 GHz. We compare our results with the conventional and the hot-spot mixer models and show that further extension of the IF bandwidth should be possible via improving the sharpness of the superconducting transition. The cross characterization of the HEB mixer was performed in the test bed of GREAT at the Max-Planck-Institut für Radioastronomie with the same QCL LO and delivered results which were consistent with the laboratory studies.
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Tretyakov I, Seliverstov S, Zolotov P, Kaurova N, Voronov B, Finkel M, et al. Noise temperature and noise bandwidth of hot-electron bolometer mixer at 3.8 THz [abstract]. In: Proc. 25th Int. Symp. Space Terahertz Technol.; 2014. 77.
Abstract: We report on our recent results of double sideband (DSB) noise temperature and bandwidth measurements of quasi-optical hot electron bolometer (HEB) mixers at local oscillator frequency of 3.8 THz. The HEB mixers used in this work were made of a NbN thin film and had a superconducting transition temperature of about 10.3 K. To couple terahertz radiation, the NbN microbridge (0.2 μm long and 2 μm wide) was integrated with a planar logarithmic-spiral antenna. The mixer chip was glued to an elliptical Si lens clamped tightly to a mixer block mounted on the 4.2 K plate of a liquid helium cryostat. The terahertz radiation was fed into the HEB device through the cryostat window made of a 0.5 mm thick HDPE. A band-pass mesh filter was mounted on the 4.2 K plate to minimize the direct detection effect [1]. We used a gas discharge laser irradiating at 3.8 THz H 2 0 line as a local oscillator (LO). The LO power was combined with a black body broadband radiation via Mylar beam splitter. Our receiver allows heterodyne detection with an intermediate frequency (IF) of a several gigahertz which dictates usage of a wideband SiGe low noise amplifier [2]. The receiver IF output signal was further amplified at room temperature and fed into a square-law power detector through a band-pass filter. The DSB receiver noise temperature was measured using a conventional Y-factor technique at IF of 1.25 GHz and band of 40 MHz. Using wideband amplifiers at both cryogenic and room temperature stages we have estimated IF bandwidth of the HEB mixers used. The obtained results strengthen the position of the HEB mixer as one of the most important tools for submillimeter astronomy. This device operates well above the energy gap (at frequencies above 1 THz) where performance of state-of-the-art SIS mixers starts to degrade. So, HEB mixers are expected to be a device of choice in astrophysical observations (ground-, aircraft- and space-based) at THz frequencies due to its excellent noise performance and low LO power requirements. The HEB mixers will be in operation on Millimetron Space Observatory. References 1. J. J. A. Baselmans, A. Baryshev, S. F. Reker, M. Hajenius, J. R. Gao, T. M. Klapwijk, Yu. Vachtomin, S. Maslennikov, S. Antipov, B. Voronov, and G. Gol'tsman, Appl. Phys. Lett., 86, 163503 (2005). 2. Sander Weinreb, Life Fellow, IEEE, Joseph C. Bardin, Student Member, IEEE, and Hamdi Mani, “Design of Cryogenic SiGe Low-Noise Amplifiers”, IEEE Transactions on Microwave Theory and Techniques, 55, 11, 2007.
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