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Author Zhang, W.; Li, N.; Jiang, L.; Ren, Y.; Yao, Q.-J.; Lin, Z.-H.; Shi, S.-C.; Voronov, B. M.; Gol’tsman, G. N.
Title Dependence of noise temperature of quasi-optical superconducting hot-electron bolometer mixers on bath temperature and optical-axis displacement Type Conference Article
Year 2008 Publication Proc. SPIE Abbreviated Journal Proc. SPIE
Volume (down) 6840 Issue Pages 684007 (1 to 8)
Keywords NbN HEB mixers, noise temperature, LO power
Abstract It is known that the increase of bath temperature results in the decrease of critical current of superconducting hot-electron bolometer (HEB) mixers owing to the depression of superconductivity, thus leading to the degradation of the mixer’s sensitivity. Here we report our study on the effect of bath temperature on the heterodyne mixing performance of quasi-optical superconducting NbN HEB mixers incorporated with a two-arm log-spiral antenna. The correlation between the bath temperature, critical current, LO power requirement and noise temperature is investigated at 0.5 THz. Furthermore, the heterodyne mixing performance of quasi-optical superconducting NbN HEB mixers is examined while there is an optical-axis displacement between the center of the extended hemispherical silicon lens and the superconducting NbN HEB device, which is placed on the back of the lens. Detailed experimental results and analysis are presented.
Address
Corporate Author Thesis
Publisher Spie Place of Publication Editor Zhang, C.; Zhang, X.-C.
Language Summary Language Original Title
Series Editor Series Title Abbreviated Series Title
Series Volume Series Issue Edition
ISSN ISBN Medium
Area Expedition Conference Terahertz Photonics
Notes Approved no
Call Number Serial 1415
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Author Ryabchun, S.; Tong, C.-yu E.; Blundell, R.; Kimberk, R.; Gol’tsman, G.
Title Effect of microwave radiation on the stability of terahertz hot-electron bolometer mixers Type Conference Article
Year 2006 Publication Proc. SPIE Abbreviated Journal Proc. SPIE
Volume (down) 6373 Issue Pages 63730J (1 to 5)
Keywords NbN HEB mixers, hot-electron bolometer mixers, stability, Allan variance, LO power fluctuations
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.
Address
Corporate Author Thesis
Publisher SPIE Place of Publication Editor Anwar, M.; DeMaria, A.J.; Shur, M.S.
Language Summary Language Original Title
Series Editor Series Title Abbreviated Series Title
Series Volume Series Issue Edition
ISSN ISBN Medium
Area Expedition Conference Terahertz Physics, Devices, and Systems
Notes Approved no
Call Number Serial 1441
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Author Gol'tsman, Gregory N.; Vachtomin, Yuriy B.; Antipov, Sergey V.; Finkel, Matvey I.; Maslennikov, Sergey N.; Smirnov, Konstantin V.; Polyakov, Stanislav L.; Svechnikov, Sergey I.; Kaurova, Natalia S.; Grishina, Elisaveta V.; Voronov, Boris M.
Title NbN phonon-cooled hot-electron bolometer mixer for terahertz heterodyne receivers Type Conference Article
Year 2005 Publication Proc. SPIE Abbreviated Journal Proc. SPIE
Volume (down) 5727 Issue Pages 95-106
Keywords NbN HEB mixers
Abstract We present the results of our studies of NbN phonon-cooled HEB mixers at terahertz frequencies. The mixers were fabricated from NbN film deposited on a high-resistivity Si substrate with an MgO buffer layer. The mixer element was integrated with a log-periodic spiral antenna. The noise temperature measurements were performed at 2.5 THz and at 3.8 THz local oscillator frequencies for the 3 x 0.2 μm2 active area devices. The best uncorrected receiver noise temperatures found for these frequencies are 1300 K and 3100 K, respectively. A water vapour discharge laser was used as the LO source. The largest gain bandwidth of 5.2 GHz was achieved for a mixer based on 2 nm thick NbN film deposited on MgO layer over Si substrate. The gain bandwidth of the mixer based on 3.5 nm NbN film deposited on Si with MgO is 4.2 GHz and the noise bandwidth for the same device amounts to 5 GHz. We also present the results of our research into decrease of the direct detection contribution to the measured Y-factor and a possible error of noise temperature calculation. The use of a square nickel cell mesh as an IR-filter enabled us to avoid the effect of direct detection and measure apparent value of the noise temperature which was 16% less than that obtained using conventional black polyethylene IR-filter.
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Corporate Author Thesis
Publisher Place of Publication Editor
Language Summary Language Original Title
Series Editor Series Title Abbreviated Series Title
Series Volume Series Issue Edition
ISSN ISBN Medium
Area Expedition Conference Terahertz and Gigahertz Electronics and Photonics IV
Notes Approved no
Call Number Serial 378
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Author Klapwijk, T. M.; Barends, R.; Gao, J. R.; Hajenius, M.; Baselmans, J. J. A.
Title Improved superconducting hot-electron bolometer devices for the THz range Type Conference Article
Year 2004 Publication Proc. SPIE Abbreviated Journal Proc. SPIE
Volume (down) 5498 Issue Pages 129-139
Keywords HEB mixer distributed model, numerical model
Abstract Improved and reproducible heterodyne mixing (noise temperatures of 950 K at 2.5 THz) has been realized with NbN based hot-electron superconducting devices with low contact resistances. A distributed temperature numerical model of the NbN bridge, based on a local electron and a phonon temperature, has been used to understand the physical conditions during the mixing process. We find that the mixing is predominantly due to the exponential rise of the local resistivity as a function of electron temperature.
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Corporate Author Thesis
Publisher Place of Publication Editor
Language Summary Language Original Title
Series Editor Series Title Abbreviated Series Title
Series Volume Series Issue Edition
ISSN ISBN Medium
Area Expedition Conference
Notes Invited talk, Recommended by Klapwijk Approved no
Call Number Serial 912
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Author Hubers, H.-W.; Semenov, A.; Richter, H.; Schwarz, M.; Gunther, B.; Smirnov, K.; Gol’tsman, G.; Voronov, B.
Title Heterodyne receiver for 3-5 THz with hot-electron bolometer mixer Type Conference Article
Year 2004 Publication Proc. SPIE Abbreviated Journal Proc. SPIE
Volume (down) 5498 Issue Pages 579-586
Keywords NbN HEB mixers
Abstract Heterodyne receivers for applications in astronomy and planetary research need quantum limited sensitivity. In instruments which are currently build for SOFIA and Herschel superconducting hot electron bolometers (HEB) will be used to achieve this goal at frequencies above 1.4 THz. The local oscillator and the mixer are the most critical components for a heterodyne receiver operating at 3-5 THz. The design and performance of an optically pumped THz gas laser optimized for this frequency band will be presented. In order to optimize the performance for this frequency hot electron bolometer mixers with different in-plane dimensions and logarithmic-spiral feed antennas have been investigated. Their noise temperatures and beam patterns were measured. Above 3 THz the best performance was achieved with a superconducting bridge of 2.0 x 0.2 μm2 incorporated in a logarithmic spiral antenna. The DSB noise temperatures were 2700 K, 4700 K and 6400 K at 3.1 THz, 4.3 THz and 5.2 THz, respectively. The results demonstrate that the NbN HEB is very well suited as a mixer for THz heterodyne receivers up to at least 5 THz.
Address
Corporate Author Thesis
Publisher SPIE Place of Publication Editor Zmuidzinas, J.; Holland, W.S.; Withington, S.
Language Summary Language Original Title
Series Editor Series Title Abbreviated Series Title
Series Volume Series Issue Edition
ISSN ISBN Medium
Area Expedition Conference Millimeter and Submillimeter Detectors for Astronomy II
Notes Approved no
Call Number Serial 1483
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