Il'in, K. S., Gol'tsman, G. N., Voronov, B. M., & Sobolewski, R. (1999). Characterization of the electron energy relaxation process in NbN hot-electron devices. In Proc. 10th Int. Symp. Space Terahertz Technol. (pp. 390–397).
Abstract: We report on transient measurements of electron energy relaxation in NbN films with 300-fs time resolution. Using an electro-optic sampling technique, we have studied the photoresponse of 3.5-nm-thick NbN films deposited on sapphire substrates and exposed to 100-fs-wide optical pulses. Our experimental data analysis was based on the two-temperature model and has shown that in our films at the superconducting transition 10.5 K the inelastic electron-phonon scattering time was about (111}+-__.2) ps. This response time indicated that the maximum intermediate-frequency band of a NbN hot-electron phonon-cooled mixer should reach (16+41-3) GHz if one eliminates the bolometric phonon-heating effect. We have suggested several ways to increase the effectiveness of phonon cooling to achieve the above intrinsic value of the NbN mixer bandwidth.
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Il'in, K. S., Cherednichenko, S. I., Gol'tsman, G. N., Currie, M., & Sobolewski, R. (1998). Comparative study of the bandwidth of phonon-cooled NbN hot-electron bolometers in submillimeter and optical wavelength ranges. In Proc. 9th Int. Symp. Space Terahertz Technol. (pp. 323–330).
Abstract: We report the results of the bandwidth measurements of NbN hot-electron bolometers, perfomied in the terahertz frequency domain at 140 GHz and 660 GHz and in time domain in the optical range at the wavelength of 395 nm.. Our studies were done on 3.5-nm-thick NbN films evaporated on sapphire substrates and patterned into ilin-size microbridges. In order to measure the gain bandwidth, we used two identical BWOs (140 or 660 GHz), one functioning as a local oscillator and the other as a signal source. The bandwidth we achieved was 3.5-4 GHz at 4.2 K with the optimal LO and DC biases. Time-domain measurements with a resolution below 300 fs were performed using an electro-optic sampling system, in the temperature range between 4.2 K to 9 K at various values of the bias current and optical power. The obtained response time of the NbN hot-electron bolometer to —100- fs-wide Ti:sapphire laser pulses was about 27 ps, what corresponds to the 5.9 GHz gain bandwidth.
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Karasik, B. S., Il'in, K. S., Ptitsina, N. G., Gol'tsman, G. N., Gershenzon, E. M., Pechen', E. V., et al. (1998). Electron-phonon scattering rate in impure NbC films. In NASA/ADS (Y35.08).
Abstract: The study of the electron-phonon interaction in thin (20 nm) NbC films with electron mean free path l=2-13 nm gives an evidence that electron scattering is significantly modified due to the interference between electron-phonon and elastic electron scattering from impurities. The interference ~T^2-term, which is proportional to the residual resistivity, dominates over the Bloch-Grüneisen contribution to resistivity at low temperatures up to 60 K. The electron energy relaxation rate is directly measured via the relaxation of hot electrons heated by modulated electromagnetic radiation. In the temperature range 1.5 – 10 K the relaxation rate shows a weak dependence on the electron mean free path and strong temperature dependence T^n with the exponent n = 2.5-3. This behaviour is well explained by the theory of the electron-phonon-impurity interference taking into account the electron coupling with transverse phonons determined from the resistivity data.
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Karasik, B. S., Il'in, K. S., Pechen, E. V., & Krasnosvobodtsev, S. I. (1996). Diffusion cooling mechanism in a hot-electron NbC microbolometer mixer. Appl. Phys. Lett., 68(16), 2285–2287.
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Il'in, K. S., Lindgren, M., Currie, M. A., Semenov, D., Gol'tsman, G. N., Sobolewski, R., et al. (2000). Picosecond hot-electron energy relaxation in NbN superconducting photodetectors. Appl. Phys. Lett., 76(19), 2752–2754.
Abstract: We report time-resolved characterization of superconducting NbN hot-electron photodetectors using an electro-optic sampling method. Our samples were patterned into micron-size microbridges from 3.5-nm-thick NbN films deposited on sapphire substrates. The devices were illuminated with 100 fs optical pulses, and the photoresponse was measured in the ambient temperature range between 2.15 and 10.6 K (superconducting temperature transition TC). The experimental data agreed very well with the nonequilibrium hot-electron, two-temperature model. The quasiparticle thermalization time was ambient temperature independent and was measured to be 6.5 ps. The inelastic electron–phonon scattering time Ï„e–ph tended to decrease with the temperature increase, although its change remained within the experimental error, while the phonon escape time Ï„es decreased almost by a factor of two when the sample was put in direct contact with superfluid helium. Specifically, Ï„e–ph and Ï„es, fitted by the two-temperature model, were equal to 11.6 and 21 ps at 2.15 K, and 10(±2) and 38 ps at 10.5 K, respectively. The obtained value of Ï„e–ph shows that the maximum intermediate frequency bandwidth of NbN hot-electron phonon-cooled mixers operating at TC can reach 16(+4/–3) GHz if one eliminates the bolometric phonon-heating effect.
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