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Ryabchun, S.; Tong, C.-yu E.; Blundell, R.; Kimberk, R.; Gol’tsman, G. |
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Title |
Effect of microwave radiation on the stability of terahertz hot-electron bolometer mixers |
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Conference Article |
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Year |
2006 |
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Proc. SPIE |
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Proc. SPIE |
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6373 |
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63730J (1 to 5) |
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Keywords |
NbN HEB mixers, hot-electron bolometer mixers, stability, Allan variance, LO power fluctuations |
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Abstract |
We report our studies of the effect of microwave radiation, with a frequency much lower than that corresponding to the energy gap of the superconductor, on the performance of the NbN hot-electron bolometer (HEB) mixer incorporated into a THz heterodyne receiver. It is shown that exposing the HEB mixer to microwave radiation does not result in a significant rise of the receiver noise temperature and degradation of the mixer conversion gain so long as the level of microwave power is small compared to the local oscillator drive. Hence the injection of a small, but controlled amount of microwave radiation enables active compensation of local oscillator power and coupling fluctuations which can significantly degrade the stability of HEB mixer receivers. |
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SPIE |
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Anwar, M.; DeMaria, A.J.; Shur, M.S. |
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Terahertz Physics, Devices, and Systems |
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1441 |
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Author |
Shurakov, A.; Tong, C.-Y. E.; Blundell, R.; Kaurova, N.; Voronov, B.; Gol'tsman, G. |
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Title |
Microwave stabilization of a HEB mixer in a pulse-tube cryocooler |
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Journal Article |
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2013 |
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IEEE Trans. Appl. Supercond. |
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IEEE Trans. Appl. Supercond. |
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23 |
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3 |
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1501504-1501504 |
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Keywords |
NbN HEB mixers |
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We report the results of our study of the stability of an 800 GHz hot electron bolometer (HEB) mixer cooled with a pulse-tube cryocooler. Pulse-tube cryocoolers introduce temperature fluctuations as well as mechanical vibrations at a frequency of ~1 Hz, both of which can cause receiver gain fluctuations at that frequency. In our system, the motor of the cryocooler was separated from the cryostat to minimize mechanical vibrations, leaving thermal effects as the dominant source of the receiver gain fluctuations. We measured root mean square temperature variations of the 4 K stage of ~7 mK. The HEB mixer was pumped by a solid state local oscillator at 810 GHz. The root mean square current fluctuations at the low noise operating point (1.50 mV, 56.5 μA) were ~0.12 μA, and were predominantly due to thermal fluctuations. To stabilize the bias current, microwave radiation was injected to the HEB mixer. The injected power level was set by a proportional-integral-derivative controller, which completely compensates for the bias current oscillations induced by the pulse-tube cryocooler. Significant improvement in the Allan variance of the receiver output power was obtained, and an Allan time of 5 s was measured. |
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1051-8223 |
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1372 |
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Tong, C. E.; Blundell, R.; Papa, D. C.; Smith, M.; Kawamura, J.; Gol'tsman, G.; Gershenzon, E.; Voronov, B. |
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Title |
An all solid-state superconducting heterodyne receiver at terahertz frequencies |
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Journal Article |
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1999 |
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IEEE Microw. Guid. Wave Lett. |
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IEEE Microw. Guid. Wave Lett. |
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9 |
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9 |
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366-368 |
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Keywords |
waveguide NbN HEB mixers |
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A superconducting hot-electron bolometer mixer-receiver operating from 1 to 1.26 THz has been developed. This heterodyne receiver employs two solid-state local oscillators each consisting of a Gunn oscillator followed by two stages of varactor frequency multiplication. The measured receiver noise temperature is 1350 K at 1.035 THz and 2700 K at 1.26 THz. This receiver demonstrates that tunable solid-state local oscillators, supplying only a few micro-watts of output power, can be used in terahertz receiver applications. |
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1051-8207 |
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1565 |
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Author |
Tong, C. Edward; Trifonov, Andrey; Blundell, Raymond; Shurakov, Alexander; Gol’tsman, Gregory |
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Title |
A digital terahertz power meter based on an NbN thin film |
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Abstract |
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Year |
2014 |
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Proc. 25th Int. Symp. Space Terahertz Technol. |
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Proc. 25th Int. Symp. Space Terahertz Technol. |
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170 |
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Keywords |
waveguide NbN HEB mixers |
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We have further studied the effect of subjecting a superconducting Hot Electron Bolometer (HEB) element made from an NbN thin film to microwave radiation. Since the photon energy is weak, the microwave radiation does not simply heat the film, but generates a bi-static state, switching between the superconducting and normal states, upon the application of a small voltage bias. Indeed, a relaxation oscillation of a few MHz has previously been reported in this regime [1]. Switching between the superconducting and normal states modulates the reflected microwave pump power from the device. A simple homodyne setup readily recovers the spontaneous switching waveform in the time domain. The switching frequency is a function of both the bias voltage (DC heating) and the applied microwave power. In this work, we use a 0.8 THz HEB waveguide mixer for the purpose of demonstration. The applied microwave pump, coupled through a directional coupler, is at 1 GHz. Since the pump power is of the order of a few μW, a room temperature amplifier is sufficient to amplify the reflected pump power from the HEB mixer, which beats with the microwave source in a homodyne set-up. After further amplification, the switching waveform is passed onto a frequency counter. The typical frequency of the switching pulses is 3-5 MHz. It is found that the digital frequency count increases with higher microwave pump power. When the HEB mixer is subjected to additional optical power at 0.8 THz, the frequency count also increases. When we vary the incident optical power by using a wire grid attenuator, a linear relationship is observed between the frequency count and the applied optical power, over at least an order of magnitude of power. This phenomenon can be exploited to develop a digital power meter, using a very simple electronics setup. Further experiments are under way to determine the range of linearity and the accuracy of calibration transfer from the microwave to the THz regime. References 1. Y. Zhuang, and S. Yngvesson, “Detection and interpretation of bistatic effects in NbN HEB devices,” Proc. 13 th Int. Symp. Space THz Tech., 2002, pp. 463–472. |
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1366 |
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Author |
Tong, C. Y. E.; Blundell, R.; Paine, S.; Papa, D. C.; Kawamura, J.; Stern, J.; LeDuc, H. G. |
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Title |
Design and characterization of a 250-350 GHz fixed-tuned superconductor-insulator-insulator receiver |
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Journal Article |
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1996 |
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IEEE Trans. Microw. Theory Techn. |
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44 |
Issue |
9 |
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1548-1556 |
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273 |
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