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IEEE Transactions on Terahertz Science and Technology

Development of the ALMA Band-3 and Band-6 Sideband-Separating SIS Mixers

Anthony R. Kerr, Shing-Kuo Pan, Stephane M. X. Claude, Philip Dindo, Arthur W. Lichtenberger, John E. Effland, E. F. Lauria

Published Feb 13, 2014• 63 citations
Publisher

Abstract

As the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) nears completion, 73 dual-polarization receivers have been delivered for each of Bands 3 (84-116 GHz) and 6 (211-275 GHz). The receivers use sideband-separating superconducting Nb/Al-AlOx/Nb tunnel-junction (SIS) mixers, developed for ALMA to suppress atmospheric noise in the image band. The mixers were designed taking into account dynamic range, input return loss, and signal-to-image conversion (which can be significant in SIS mixers). Typical SSB receiver noise temperatures in Bands 3 and 6 are 30 and 60 K, respectively, and the image rejection is typically 15 dB.

DOI
10.1109/tthz.2014.2302537

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As the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) nears completion, 73 dual-polarization receivers have been delivered for each of Bands 3 (84-116 GHz) and 6 (211-275 GHz). The receivers use sideband-separating superconducting Nb/Al-AlOx/Nb tunnel-junction (SIS) mixers, developed for ALMA to suppress atmospheric noise in the image band. The mixers were designed taking into account dynamic range, input return loss, and signal-to-image conversion (which can be significant in SIS mixers). Typical SSB receiver noise temperatures in Bands 3 and 6 are 30 and 60 K, respectively, and the image rejection is typically 15 dB.
A total of 73 dual polarization superconductor-insulator-superconductor (SIS) receivers for the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) have been successfully produced to observe astronomical signals in the 787-950 GHz frequency band. The receivers use two double sideband (DSB) waveguide mixers with Nb/AlOx/Nb tunnel junctions and NbTiN/SiO2/Al microstrip tuning circuits on quartz substrate. The best achieved DSB receiver noise temperature is 125 K, corresponding to about 3 hf/kBfor 4 K operation.
This licentiate is focused on the design and development of Superconductor-Insulator-Superconductor (SIS) junction mixer for ALMA Band 5, one of the ten frequency bands of the Atacama Large Millimeter Array (ALMA) project. ALMA Band 5 is a dual polarisation sideband separation heterodyne receiver covering radio frequencies (RF) from 163 GHz to 211 GHz, with 4-8 GHz intermediate frequency (IF). Amongst the other ALMA bands, Band 5 is the lowest frequency band, which uses all-cold optics. That puts strong constrains on the dimensions of all the receiver components. For the SIS mixer, we employ a MMIC-like approach where most of the DSB mixer components, including LO injection circuitry with novel directional coupler, are integrated on the same crystal quartz substrate. The mixer uses a lumped filter technique to extract the IF frequencies, which is non-traditional for SIS mixers. A custom made superconducting Lange coupler with suspended air bridges to connect the fingers of Lange coupler is used. Experimental measurements of the double sideband mixer show state of the art performance with the receiver noise temperature below 30 Kelvin across the entire band. The noise temperature for sideband separation mixer is below 60 Kelvin with sideband rejection better than 12 dB over most of the band.
We developed SIS mixers for Atacama large millimeter/submillimeter array (ALMA) Band 8 (385-500 GHz) receiver cartridges and evaluated their performance. DC IV curves of the SIS mixers showed small leakage current at the high current density. The current density and quality factor (Rsg/Rn) of the Band 8 SIS junction were 13 kA/cm2and approximately 20, respectively. Double-sideband noise temperature of the 266 SIS mixers was 92.8 K at 4.0 K bath temperature on the average from 385 to 500 GHz with a standard deviation of 7.0%. A couple of sideband-separating (2SB) mixers for dual polarizations were used in the Band 8 receiver cartridge. The 73 receivers have met ALMA specifications of the noise temperature. Single-sideband noise temperature and image rejection ratio of the receivers were 139.5 K and 20.5 dB on the average from 385 to 500 GHz, respectively. These test results of the receivers indicate high quality and uniformity of the 2SB mixers.
We present performance of the first ALMA Band 5 production cartridge, covering frequencies from 163 to 211 GHz. Atacama Large Millimeter/sub-millimeter Array (ALMA) Band 5 is a dual polarization, sideband separation (2SB) receiver based on all Niobium (Nb) superconductor–insulator–superconductor (SIS) tunnel junction mixers, providing 16 GHz of instantaneous RF bandwidth for astronomy observations. The 2SB mixer for each polarization employs a quadrature configuration. The sideband separation occurs at the output of the IF hybrid that has integrated bias-T for biasing the mixers, and is produced using superconducting thin-film technology. Experimental verification of the Band 5 cold cartridge performed together with warm cartridge assembly, confirms that the system noise temperature is below 45 K over most of the RF band, which is less than 5 photon noise (5 hf/k). This is to our knowledge, the best results reported at these frequencies. The measurement of the sideband rejection indicates that the sideband rejection is better than 10 dB over 90% of the observational band.
Abstract We have designed and mass-produced low-noise sideband separating superconductor–insulator–superconductor (SIS) mixers for the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) band 4 over the frequency range of 125–163 GHz. An integrated design was adopted for the band 4 sideband separating (2SB) mixer block because of the advantages it offers in terms of compactness, reduced testing time and lower cost. The mixer chip was designed to be robust for handling errors to avoid performance degradation caused by generation of the higher order mode in the mixer chip slot. Detailed analyses revealed its robustness and ability to ensure mass production of the 2SB mixers. Using the robust mixer design in addition to well-established waveguide technologies, all of the 2SB mixers met ALMA specifications for noise temperature and image rejection ratio.
We have developed a single polarization engineering model of the Atacama Large Millimeter/Submillimeter Array (ALMA) Band 10 (0.78–0.95 THz) receivers. The front-end optics comprises a pair of ellipsoidal mirrors and a corrugated feed horn. A waveguide mixer block is attached to the feed horn in which an NbTiN-based superconductor–insulator–superconductor (SIS) mixer chip, which uses a quartz substrate, is mounted onto a WR-1.2 full-height waveguide. The SIS mixer employs two Nb / AlO x / Nb junctions and an NbTiN/SiO 2 /Al microstrip tuning circuit. A very wide intermediate frequency (IF) system with a bandwidth of 4–12 GHz is employed. The receiver demonstrated double-sideband (DSB) noise temperatures of below 240 K at local oscillator (LO) frequencies ranging from 792 to 945 GHz, without any correction for loss in front of the receiver. The lowest DSB receiver noise temperature, 179 K, was obtained at the center frequency of the designed band, which corresponds to about 4 quanta. These results represent state-of-the-art sensitivity for a receiver at an operating physical temperature of 4 K.