Development of THz harmonic mixer for QCL phase locking application

Author

Bulcha, B.T. ; Hesler, J.L. ; Barker, N.S.

Author_Institution

Virginia Diodes Inc., Charlottesville, VA, USA

fYear

2014

fDate

14-19 Sept. 2014

Firstpage

1

Lastpage

2

Abstract

A practical solution using a THz optical source as a Local Oscillator (LO) for radio astronomy above 2 THz requires that the source to be frequency or phase locked. Therefore, it is crucial to enable a high conversion efficiency heterodyne mixer to produce a stable LO source that can operate at room temperature. Harmonically pumped 1.9-3.2 THz Schottky diode based mixers have been designed to enable high harmonic mixing. The harmonic mixers will be used to phase lock a Quantum Cascade Laser (QCL) to a stable microwave source. The design and characterization of a 1.9-3.2 THz harmonic mixer is presented.

Keywords

Schottky diode mixers; harmonic oscillators (circuits); quantum cascade lasers; radioastronomical techniques; terahertz wave devices; QCL phase locking application; Schottky diode based mixers; frequency 1.9 THz to 3.2 THz; frequency locked; high conversion efficiency heterodyne mixer; local oscillator; phase locked; quantum cascade laser; radio astronomy; terahertz harmonic mixer development; terahertz optical source; Harmonic analysis; Masers; Mixers; Probes; Quantum cascade lasers; Radio frequency; Schottky diodes; Harmonic Mixer; Phase Locking; Quantum Cascaded Laser (QCL); THz Circuit; THz Schottky Diode;

fLanguage

English

Publisher

ieee

Conference_Titel

Infrared, Millimeter, and Terahertz waves (IRMMW-THz), 2014 39th International Conference on

Conference_Location

Tucson, AZ

Type

conf

DOI

10.1109/IRMMW-THz.2014.6956464

Filename

6956464