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Hajenius, M., Baselmans, J. J. A., Gao, J. R., Klapwijk, T. M., de Korte, P. A. J., Voronov, B., et al. (2004). Low noise NbN superconducting hot electron bolometer mixers at 1.9 and 2.5 THz. Supercond. Sci. Technol., 17(5), S224–S228.
Abstract: NbN phonon-cooled hot electron bolometer mixers (HEBs) have been realized with negligible contact resistance between the bolometer itself and the contact structure. Using a combination of in situ cleaning of the NbN film and the use of an additional superconducting interlayer of a 10 nm NbTiN layer between the Au of the contact structure and the NbN film superior noise temperatures have been obtained as low as 950 K at 2.5 THz and 750 K at 1.9 THz. Here we address in detail the DC characterization of these devices, the interface transparencies between the bolometers and the contacts and the consequences of these factors on the mixer performance.
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Финкель, М. И., Масленников, С. Н., & Гольцман, Г. Н. (2007). Концепция приёмного комплекса космического радиотелескопа «Миллиметрон». Известия высших учебных заведений. Радиофизика, 50(10-11), 924–934.
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Finkel, M. I., Maslennikov, S. N., & Gol'tsman, G. N. (2007). The concept of the receiving complex for the “Millimetron” space radio telescope. Radiophys. Quant. Electron., 50(10-11), 837–846.
Abstract: We consider the current status of research in the development of a submillimeter and far-infrared receiving instrument and propose promising solutions for the receivers of the spaceborne telescope “Millimetron,” which allow one to realize comprehensively the opportunities given by this international project administrated by the Astrospace Center of the P. N. Lebedev Physical Institute of the Russian Academy of Sciences.
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Ryabchun, S. A., Tretyakov, I. V., Finkel, M. I., Maslennikov, S. N., Kaurova, N. S., Seleznev, V. A., et al. (2008). Fabrication and characterisation of NbN HEB mixers with in situ gold contacts. In Proc. 19th Int. Symp. Space Terahertz Technol. (pp. 62–67). Groningen, Netherlands.
Abstract: We present our recent results of the fabrication and testing of NbN hot-electron bolometer mixers with in situ gold contacts. An intermediate frequency bandwidth of about 6 GHz has been measured for the mixers made of a 3.5-nm NbN film on a plane Si substrate with in situ gold contacts, compared to 3.5 GHz for devices made of the same film with ex situ gold contacts. The increase in the intermediate frequency bandwidth is attributed to additional diffusion cooling through the improved contacts, which is further supported by the its dependence on the bridge length: intermediate frequency bandwidths of 3.5 GHz and 6 GHz have been measured for devices with lengths of 0.35 μm and 0.16 μm respectively at a local oscillator frequency of 300 GHz near the superconducting transition. At a local oscillator frequency of 2.5 THz the receiver has offered a DSB noise temperature of 950 K. When compared to the previous result of 1300 K obtained at the same local oscillator frequency for devices fabricated with an ex situ route, such a low value of the noise temperature may also be attributed to the improved gold contacts.
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Semenov, A. D., Gol'tsman, G. N., & Sobolewski, R. (2002). Hot-electron effect in superconductors and its applications for radiation sensors. Supercond. Sci. Technol., 15(4), R1–R16.
Abstract: The paper reviews the main aspects of nonequilibrium hot-electron phenomena in superconductors and various theoretical models developed to describe the hot-electron effect. We discuss implementation of the hot-electron avalanche mechanism in superconducting radiation sensors and present the most successful practical devices, such as terahertz mixers and direct intensity detectors, for far-infrared radiation. Our presentation also includes the novel approach to hot-electron quantum detection implemented in superconducting x-ray to optical photon counters.
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Kawamura, J., Blundell, R., Tong, C. - Y. E., Papa, D. C., Hunter, T. R., Paine, St. N., et al. (2000). Superconductive hot-electron bolometer mixer receiver for 800 GHz operation (Vol. 48).
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Smirnov, A. V., Larionov, P. A., Finkel, M. I., Maslennikov, S. N., Voronov, B. M., & Gol'tsman, G. N. (2008). NbZr films for THz phonon-cooled HEB mixers. In Proc. 19th Int. Symp. Space Terahertz Technol. (pp. 44–47). Groningen, Netherlands.
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Divochiy, A., Marsili, F., Bitauld, D., Gaggero, A., Leoni, R., Mattioli, F., et al. (2008). Superconducting nanowire photon-number-resolving detector at telecommunication wavelengths. Nat. Photon., 2(5), 302–306.
Abstract: Optical-to-electrical conversion, which is the basis of the operation of optical detectors, can be linear or nonlinear. When high sensitivities are needed, single-photon detectors are used, which operate in a strongly nonlinear mode, their response being independent of the number of detected photons. However, photon-number-resolving detectors are needed, particularly in quantum optics, where n-photon states are routinely produced. In quantum communication and quantum information processing, the photon-number-resolving functionality is key to many protocols, such as the implementation of quantum repeaters1 and linear-optics quantum computing2. A linear detector with single-photon sensitivity can also be used for measuring a temporal waveform at extremely low light levels, such as in long-distance optical communications, fluorescence spectroscopy and optical time-domain reflectometry. We demonstrate here a photon-number-resolving detector based on parallel superconducting nanowires and capable of counting up to four photons at telecommunication wavelengths, with an ultralow dark count rate and high counting frequency.
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Tarkhov, M., Claudon, J., Poizat, J. P., Korneev, A., Divochiy, A., Minaeva, O., et al. (2008). Ultrafast reset time of superconducting single photon detectors. Appl. Phys. Lett., 92(24), 241112 (1 to 3).
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Baselmans, J., Kooi, J., Baryshev, A., Yang, Z. Q., Hajenius, M., Gao, J. R., et al. (2005). Full characterization of small volume NbN HEB mixers for space applications. In Proc. 16th Int. Symp. Space Terahertz Technol. (pp. 457–462). Göteborg, Sweden.
Abstract: NbN phonon cooled HEB’s are one of the most promising bolometer mixer technologies for (near) future (space) applications. Their performance is usually quantified by mea- suring the receiver noise temperature at a given IF frequency, usually around 1 – 2 GHz. However, for any real applications it is vital that one fully knows all the relevant properties of the mixer, including LO power, stability, direct detection, gain bandwidth and noise bandwidth, not only the noise temperature at low IF frequencies. To this aim we have measured all these parameters at the optimal operating point of one single, small volume quasioptical NbN HEB mixer. We find a minimum noise temperature of 900 K at 1.46 THz. We observe a direct detection effect indicated by a change in bias current when changing from a 300 K hot load to a 77 K cold load. Due to this effect we overestimate the noise temperature by about 22% using a 300 K hot load and a 77 K cold load. The LO power needed to reach the optimal operating point is 80 nW at the receiver lens front, 59 nW inside the NbN bridge. However, using the isothermal technique we find a power absorbed in the NbN bridge of 25 nW, a difference of about a factor 2. We obtain a gain bandwidth of 2.3 GHz and a noise bandwidth of 4 GHz. The system Allan time is about 1 sec. in a 50 MHz spectral bandwidth and a deviation from white noise integration (governed by the radiometer equation) occurs at 0.2 sec., which implies a maximum integration time of a few seconds in a 1 MHz bandwidth spectrometer.
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