PT Journal
AU Ryabchun, S
   Tong, CE
   Blundell, R
   Kimberk, R
   Gol'tsman, G
TI Study of the effect of microwave radiation on the operation of HEB mixers in the terahertz frequency range
SO IEEE Trans. Appl. Supercond.
JI IEEE Trans. Appl. Supercond.
PY 2007
BP 391
EP 394
VL 17
IS 2
DI 10.1109/TASC.2007.898580
DE NbN HEB mixers
AB We have investigated the effect of injecting microwave radiation, with a frequency much lower than that corresponding to the energy gap of the superconductor, on the performance of the hot-electron bolometer mixer incorporated into a THz heterodyne receiver. More specifically, we show that exposing the mixer to microwave radiation does not cause a significant rise of the receiver noise temperature and fall of the mixer conversion gain so long as the microwave power is a small fraction of local oscillator power. The injection of a small, but controlled amount of microwave power therefore enables active compensation of local oscillator power and coupling fluctuations which can significantly degrade the gain stability of hot electron bolometer mixer receivers.
ER