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International Journal of High Speed Electronics and Systems

ULTRASENSITIVE WIDEBAND INTEGRATED SPECTROMETER FOR CHEMICAL AND BIOLOGICAL AGENT DETECTION

I. V. Vernik

Published Mar 1, 2008• 1 citation
Publisher

Abstract

A novel concept of a compact mm/submm integrated spectrometers for environmental monitoring for hazardous materials of chemical and biological origin as well as for remote monitoring of the Earth atmosphere is discussed. The agents will be exactly identified by their unique spectral signatures. The assembled on a multi-chip module, cryocooler-mounted Superconducting Integrated SPectromer (SISP) exploits the superior performance of superconducting Josephson junction technology and unique on-chip integration of analog components, analog-to-digital converter, and digital components. Analog components include a superconductor-insulator-superconductor (SIS) mixer with integrated quasioptical antenna, mm-wave local oscillator, and SQUID amplifier for the down-converted (IF) signals. Upon amplification, the IF signal is digitized using a bandpass delta-sigma modulator, followed by real time processing with rapid single flux quantum (RSFQ) circuitry. Experimental results showing both operation of spectrometer components and the way to their successful integration are presented.

DOI
10.1142/s0129156408005163

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A novel concept of a compact mm/submm integrated spectrometers for environmental monitoring for hazardous materials of chemical and biological origin as well as for remote monitoring of the Earth atmosphere is discussed. The agents will be exactly identified by their unique spectral signatures. The assembled on a multi-chip module, cryocooler-mounted Superconducting Integrated SPectromer (SISP) exploits the superior performance of superconducting Josephson junction technology and unique on-chip integration of analog components, analog-to-digital converter, and digital components. Analog components include a superconductor-insulator-superconductor (SIS) mixer with integrated quasioptical antenna, mm-wave local oscillator, and SQUID amplifier for the down-converted (IF) signals. Upon amplification, the IF signal is digitized using a bandpass delta-sigma modulator, followed by real time processing with rapid single flux quantum (RSFQ) circuitry. Experimental results showing both operation of spectrometer components and the way to their successful integration are presented.
Compact mm/submm integrated spectrometers are required for radio-astronomical research, remote monitoring of the Earth atmosphere and environmental monitoring for hazardous materials of chemical and biological origin. Assembled on a multi-chip module the all superconducting integrated spectrometer offers integration of thin film analog components such as a mixer, superconducting local oscillator and an intermediate frequency SQUID amplifier together with superconducting digital circuitry. A Rapid Single Flux Quantum (RSFQ) 128-bit autocorrelator formed by 16-bit autocorrelator and a 112-bit programmable shift register that adjusts the data delay in increments of 16, is used for digitizing of the down converted signals and real-time digital processing. Experimental results showing both operation of components and the way to their successful integration are presented.
The concept of a fully integrated superconducting receiver looks very attractive for sub-mm space astronomy where low weight, power consumption and volume are required. The possibility to integrate on a few chips the different planar components: a SIS mixer, a superconducting local oscillator (LO), an intermediate frequency amplifier followed by superconducting circuits for digitizing and processing of down converted signals, is discussed. A first implementation of a real integrated quasioptical receiver for frequencies up to 500 GHz is described. The one-chip receiver comprises a double dipole antenna, parallel biased SIS array mixer and Josephson Flux Flow Oscillator (FFO) with matching circuits. The results of extensive investigations of the integrated receiver as well as design and investigation of novel superconducting elements are presented.>
A sensitive heterodyne spectrometer employing a superconducting local oscillator is demonstrated experimentally for the first time at 327 GHz. The research is continuation of the study on the concept of a superconducting integrated receiver (SIR). The sensor of the phase-locked receiver comprises a quasioptical double-dipole antenna SIS mixer (T:z 250 K, DSB), a Josephson-type flux-flow oscillator (FF0) and a twin-SIS harmonic mixer, all integrated on the same silicon chip of size 4 mm by 4 mm. An elliptical silicon lens is the only optical element focusing the beam. Room temperature PLL electronics is used along with a synthesized reference source at about 10 GHz. The effective bandwidth of the PLL circuit of about ± 10 MHz and the hold range of ± 2.5 GHz are estimated experimentally while locking at 32-th harmonic of the reference source. It was found that the optimum pump current of the SIS mixer can be adjusted within the range of 14...42 pA simply via change of the bias current of the FFO while it stays locked. The signal from a room temperature semiconductor harmonic multiplier driven by a second synthesizer is used to test the spectrometer; the spectral resolution as low as 10 kHz is estimated. The effect of broadening of a spectral line of SO2 gas at 326867 MHz is measured for a laboratory gas cell at 300 K within the pressure range of 0.03-0.3 mbar demonstrating feasibility of the PLL SIR.
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A wide variety of applications, ranging from radio-frequency (RF) receivers for broadband communications and signal detection, on earth and in space, would benefit from high-performance superconductor analog-to-digital converters (ADCs), based on magnetic flux quantization and fast switching Josephson junctions. Superconductor ADCs are capable of very high sample rates (100 GHz or more), very high linearity, and high sensitivity. Nyquist-rate ADCs use the high sample rate to digitize a wide instantaneous bandwidth (tens of GHz) and are useful for wideband spectrum monitoring as well as high-end scientific instrumentation. Delta and delta-sigma oversampling ADCs use the high linearity to achieve programmable trade-off between dynamic range and instantaneous bandwidth. These lowpass and bandpass ADCs have been used for direct digitization of narrower (tens to hundreds of MHz) RF bands in the 1-20 GHz range for a variety of communications, intelligence, electronic warfare, and radar applications. Another application area of these cryogenic ADCs is for outputs of cryogenic sensor arrays and terahertz mixers. Recent advances in various classes of ADCs for different applications are described.
The concept of a fully superconducting integrated receiver is developed and experimentally tested. This single-chip sub-mm wave receiver includes a planar antenna integrated with a SIS mixer and an internal superconducting Josephson-type local oscillator (flux-flow oscillator, FFO). The receiver is tested with a DSB noise temperature below 100 K around 500 GHz being pumped by its internal local oscillator (LO). The instantaneous bandwidth of 15-20% is estimated via FTS and heterodyne measurements that meet the requirements of most practical applications. The far field antenna beam is measured as ≈ f /10 with sidelobes below -16 dB that is suitable for coupling to a real telescope antenna. A nine-pixel imaging array receiver with each pixel containing an internally pumped receiver chip is developed and tested. A linewidth of the phase locked FFO as low as 1 Hz is measured relative to a reference oscillator in the frequency range 270-440 GHz. An rf amplifier on the base of a dc SQUID is developed and tested showing a noise figure below 10 K at 4 GHz and a bandwidth of about 300 MHz. This amplifier can be included as a part of an integrated receiver that is valuable for array applications.