Superconductive hot-electron-bolometer mixer receiver for 800-GHz operation

Author

Kawamura, Jonathan ; Blundell, Raymond ; Tong, C. Y Edward ; Papa, D. Cosmo ; Hunter, Todd R. ; Paine, Scott N. ; Patt, Ferdinand ; Gol´tsman, Gregory ; Cherednichenko, Sergei ; Voronov, Boris ; Gershenzon, Eugene

Author_Institution

California Inst. of Technol., Pasadena, CA, USA

Volume

48

Issue

4

fYear

2000

fDate

4/1/2000 12:00:00 AM

Firstpage

683

Lastpage

689

Abstract

In this paper, we describe a superconductive hot-electron-bolometer mixer receiver designed to operate in the partially transmissive 350-μm atmospheric window. The receiver employs an NbN thin-film microbridge as the mixer element, in which the main cooling mechanism of the hot electrons is through electron-phonon interaction. At a local-oscillator frequency of 808 GHz, the measured double-sideband receiver noise temperature is T_RX=970 K, across a 1-GHz intermediate-frequency bandwidth centered at 1.8 GHz. We have measured the linearity of the receiver and the amount of local-oscillator power incident on the mixer for optimal operation, which is P_LO≈1 μW. This receiver was used in making observations as a facility instrument at the Heinrich Hertz Telescope, Mt. Graham, AZ, during the 1998-1999 winter observing season

Keywords

bolometers; hot carriers; niobium compounds; submillimetre wave mixers; submillimetre wave receivers; superconducting microbridges; superconducting mixers; 800 GHz; NbN; NbN thin-film microbridge; double-sideband receiver noise temperature; electron-phonon interaction; linearity; local-oscillator power; superconductive hot-electron-bolometer mixer receiver; Atmospheric measurements; Charge carrier processes; Cooling; Electrons; Frequency measurement; Noise measurement; Superconducting device noise; Superconducting thin films; Superconductivity; Temperature;

fLanguage

English

Journal_Title

Microwave Theory and Techniques, IEEE Transactions on

Publisher

ieee

ISSN

0018-9480

Type

jour

DOI

10.1109/22.841960

Filename

841960