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Journal of Applied Physics

High-Tc superconducting Josephson mixers for terahertz heterodyne detection

M. Malnou, C. Feuillet-Palma, C. Ulysse, G. Faini, Pascal Febvre, M. Sirena, Ludovic Olanier, Jérôme Lesueur, N. Bergeal

Published Aug 19, 2014• 63 citations
Publisher

Abstract

We report on an experimental and theoretical study of the high-frequency mixing properties of ion-irradiated YBa2Cu3O7 Josephson junctions embedded in THz antennas. We investigated the influence of the local oscillator power and frequency on the device performances. The experimental data are compared with theoretical predictions of the general three-port model for mixers in which the junction is described by the resistively shunted junction model. A good agreement is obtained for the conversion efficiency in different frequency ranges, spanning above and below the characteristic frequencies fc of the junctions.

DOI
10.1063/1.4892940

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•Jan 1, 1997•0 citations
We report on an experimental and theoretical study of the high-frequency mixing properties of ion-irradiated YBa2Cu3O7 Josephson junctions embedded in THz antennas. We investigated the influence of the local oscillator power and frequency on the device performances. The experimental data are compared with theoretical predictions of the general three-port model for mixers in which the junction is described by the resistively shunted junction model. A good agreement is obtained for the conversion efficiency in different frequency ranges, spanning above and below the characteristic frequencies fc of the junctions.
We report on an experimental and theoretical study of the high-frequency mixing properties of ion-irradiated YBa2Cu3O7 Josephson junctions embedded in THz antennas. We investigated the influence of the local oscillator power and frequency on the device performances. The experimental data are compared with theoretical predictions of the general three-port model for mixers, in which the junction is described by the resistively shunted junction model. A good agreement is obtained for the conversion efficiency in different frequency ranges, spanning above and below the characteristic frequencies fc of the junctions.
We report on the high-frequency mixing properties of ion irradiated YBa2Cu3O7 Josephson junctions. The frequency range, spanning above and below the characteristic frequencies fc of the junctions, permits a clear observation of the transition between two mixing regimes. The experimental conversion gain was found to be in good agreement with the prediction of the three-port model. Finally, we discuss the potential of the junctions to build a Josephson mixer operating in the terahertz frequency range.
The terahertz region of the electromagnetic spectrum [0.3-10THz] has, so far, not been exploited fully due to the lack of suitable sources and detectors. Indeed, THz frequency lies between the frequency range of traditional electronics and photonics where the existing technology cannot be simply extended. SIS Niobium tunnel junctions that are currently used as mixing element in heterodyne receivers are intrinsically limited in frequency by the energy gap of Nb and operate only at low temperature (4.2K). An alternative to these devices consists of using High-Tc superconducting receivers. Over the past years, we have developed a new approach based on ion irradiation to make Josephson nano-junctions and SQUIDs with YBCO thin films [1,2]. In this talk, we will present a study of the high-frequency mixing properties of such junctions up to 400 GHz [3]. Conversion gain has been measured at frequencies spanning the range below and above the characteristic frequency fc = (2e/h)IcRn of the junctions. The transition between two distinct mixing regimes has been clearly evidenced, in good agreement with the prediction of the three ports model.[1] N. Bergeal et al., Appl. Phys. Lett. 87, 102502 (2005)[2] N. Bergeal et al., Appl. Phys. Lett. 89, 1112515 (2006)[3] Luo et al, arXiv:1203.1734 (2012)
This paper presents theoretical analysis and modeling of YBaCuO superconducting Josephson mixer for terahertz frequency band. The study was carried out both for the mixing at the first harmonic and for the case of high harmonic mixing. The numerical solution based on resistively shunted junction model was obtained for the YBaCuO junction with typical experimental parameters. Optimizing mixer performance included choosing the proper operating point and the local oscillator power. A study on the effect of RF input power, frequency and the harmonic number on conversion efficiency was carried out. The theoretical predictions presented in the work provide a simple method for optimal control of the Josephson mixer and demonstrate good qualitative agreement with direct modeling. For the first time, the optimum of the conversion efficiency versus signal frequency was analytically obtained.
Abstract This paper presents a wideband terahertz (THz) mixer based on a thin-film antenna-coupled high-temperature superconducting (HTS) YBa 2 Cu 3 O 7−x (YBCO) step-edge Josephson junction. The HTS mixer enables the flexible harmonic mixing operation at multiple THz bands with the same microwave local oscillator (LO) source, and features very wide intermediate-frequency or instantaneous bandwidth. In order to optimize the frequency down-conversion performance of the mixer, systematic electromagnetic design and analysis have been carried out to improve the power coupling of THz radiation as well as wideband transmission of microwave signals. Experimental characterization of a fabricated device prototype has demonstrated that the mixer exhibits good performance at both the 200 GHz and 600 GHz bands. Detailed measurement results including the DC characteristics, LO pumping requirement, frequency response, mixing linearity and conversion gain are presented in this paper.
We report on the mixing properties of high-T, superconductor (HTS) Josephson junctions. Direct radiation and heterodyne mixing experiments in the frequency range 78 GHz-119 GHz have been performed using YBa 2Cu30 7_ x (YBCO) step-edge junctions (SEJ) and bicrystal junctions (BO) on LaA10 3 and MgO substrates. Under external radiation our junctions showed harmonic phase synchronization (Shapiro steps) up to 1.88 THz. Junctions with current voltage characteristics (PVC) dose to predictions of the resistively shunted junction model (RSJ) were mounted into a heterodyne mixing setup. Under the radiation of two monochromatic signals we obtained conversion efficiencies around -14 dB in the 11 GHz intermediate frequency (IF) band. In the fundamental mixing regime we observed response at IF at working temperatures up to 72K. We demonstrated the operation of HTS Josephson junctions in the self-mixing mode. The experimental results are in good agreement with simulations using the RSJ model.