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Softwaretechnik-Trends

A Photonic Local Oscillator for an SIS Mixer in the 100 GHz Band

Takashi Noguchi, Akitoshi Ueda, Hiroyuki Iwashita, Yutaro Sekímoto, Masato Ishiguro, Tadao Ishibashi, Hiroshi Itô, Tadao Nagatsuma

Published Mar 1, 2002• 2 citations
OpenAlex

Abstract

We have developed a waveguide-mounted photomixer in the 75-115 GHz band with a uni-traveling carrier photodiode which is optically-pumped by two 1.55-gm lasers. We have suc-cessfully demonstrated to produce an output power of,2 rnW at 100 GHz with an input laser power of-400 mW. An SIS mixer has been pumped by the photomixer as a local oscillator. It is found that in this configuration the photomixer can provide a sufficient local oscillator power required for optimum operation of the SIS mixer in the frequency band from 85 to 110 GHz. We have carried out similar experiment using a Gunn-diode local oscillator source and carefully compared the receiver noise temperature of the SIS mixer with those pumped by the photomixer. It is found that the receiver noise temperatures of the SIS mixer pumped by the photomixer is a little higher than those pumped by the Gunn oscillator.

Related papers

Development of a Waveguide Josephson Oscillator for SIS Mixer-Based Amplifiers

Yoshinori Uzawa, Akira Kawakami, Takafumi Kojima +6 more

A waveguide Josephson array oscillator operating at a frequency of 100 GHz was designed and fabricated to evaluate its pumping capability as a local oscillator (LO) for our proposed SIS mixer-based amplifier, which incorporates SIS up- and down-converters. The LO power requirement was estimated by simulation to be several nanowatts when the SIS up-converter is optimized for noise temperature and conversion gain under the condition that the input port at the microwave frequencies is connected to a practical 50-W system. The fabricated waveguide Josephson array oscillator module has 31 Nb Josephson junctions placed at the center of a half-wavelength resonator of an Nb microstripline. The output power from the waveguide oscillator module was evaluated by connecting it to the waveguide SIS detector module in a 4-K cryostat. Photon-assisted tunneling steps were clearly observed, from which the detected power was estimated to be approximately 17 nW at 106 GHz. These results suggest that the Josephson array oscillator is capable of being used in the SIS mixer-based amplifier as the LO.

IEEE Transactions on Applied Superconductivity•Jan 26, 2024•3 citations

A Low-noise Balanced SIS Mixer for the 790-950 GHz Band

Takafumi Kojima, Yasunori FUJII, Yoshinori Uzawa

We have developed a low-noise balanced superconductor-insulator-superconductor (SIS) mixer using a waveguide 3-dB 90-degree hybrid coupler over the radio frequency (RF) range of 790-950 GHz and intermediate frequency range of 4-12 GHz at an operating temperature of 4 K. The RF coupler was carefully designed in regards to machining errors so that the entire amplitude imbalance including the mixer gain became smaller. The fabricated coupler was characterized at both room and cryogenic temperature. The receiver noise temperature of the balanced SIS mixer was below 350 K over the entire frequency band and the local oscillator (LO) noise rejection ratio was estimated to be more than 15 dB. This result is equivalent to state-ofthe-art mixer performance at this frequency range.

TEION KOGAKU (Journal of Cryogenics and Superconductivity Society of Japan)•Jan 1, 2014•2 citations

LO path built-in SIS mixer for further improvement of noise performance

Kecheng Xiao, Hideo Ogawa, Akira Mizuno +1 more

In millimeter and submillimeter wave band, radio telescopes' observing efficiency and weak signal detecting capability have been greatly raised in the past tens of years, due to the application of the SIS mixers as their receiver front-ends. However general local power injection methods for a heterodyne receiver usually result in additional insertion loss which degrades sensitivity of SIS receivers. Based on the extremely small local power requirements of SIS quantum mixing, we developed a novel LO path built-in SIS mixer, in which an additional waveguide was built for LO power injection. Without any of traditional external LO diplexers (e.g., crossguide- couplers or beamsplitters), LO power is provided to SIS junctions through the LO waveguide and the junction chip which connects both LO- and signal waveguides. There is no RF signal lost due to coupling LO power since LO- and RF signal take different paths before arriving at junctions, resulting in a compact, stable and lower loss SIS receiver system. Experiments at 110- and 230 GHz bands show that there is no any problem to couple sufficient pumping power to SIS junctions from general LO sources for present LPB mixer, and the receiver sensitivities have a further improvement of about 10 K compared to our previous beamsplitter LO power coupling receiver system. We expect this LPB SIS mixer can be also applied into submillimeter wave band.

Proceedings of SPIE, the International Society for Optical Engineering/Proceedings of SPIE•Jul 3, 2000•1 citation

A full-band waveguide SIS receiver with integrated tuning for 75-100 GHz

Dag Winkler, N. G. Ugras, A. Hodge Worsham +3 more

This paper reports on the performance of a broadband SIS receiver with no mechanical tuning elements was scale modelled and tested. The mixer mount had a broadband waveguide to microstripline transition consisting of a 4-step Chebychev single ridge transformer. The last step of the ridge connected the waveguide to a microstripline circuit. The on-chip circuit consisted of a microstripline, which transmitted the rf and the local oscillator signals to the SIS mixer. Some chips included a thin film strip inductor in parallel with the mixer. Both the SIS element and the inductor had rf grounds provided by 90{degrees} radial stubs. The inductor tuned out the junction capacitance to allow operation over the full frequency band. The SIS element can be a single junction or series array using Nb/AlO{sub x}/Nb trilayer tunnel junctions with areas as small as 0.5 {mu}m{sup 2} and V{sub m}(2mV) = 39 mV. Preliminary results indicated a DSB receiver noise temperature of 65-80 K across the band measured at 4.4 K with an internal cryogenic rf hot/cold source and with T{sub if} = 21 K. With another device, we achieved a mixer noise temperature of 35 K at 100 GHz increasing to 45 K at 79.5 andmore » 110 GHZ. Coupled mixer gain of up to +3 dB and negative dynamic resistance on the first photon step were observed. The lowest noise temperature was obtained for an untuned single junction mixer at 80 GHz; T{sub R} = 41 K and T{sub M} = 20 K were measured.« less

IEEE Transactions on Magnetics•Mar 1, 1991•0 citations

Development of an SIS Mixer-Based Low-Noise Amplifier Amenable to Josephson Oscillator Pumping

Yoshinori Uzawa, Takafumi Kojima, Kazumasa Makise +4 more

We propose a low-noise and low-power-consumption microwave amplifier using superconductor-insulator-superconductor (SIS) mixers as quasi-particle frequency up- and down-converters pumped by a Josephson array oscillator in the millimeter-wave band. A proof-of-concept study of an amplifier with two W-band waveguide mixers using Nb/Al-AlOx/Nb junctions in a cascade connection demonstrated an average gain of 6 dB and a noise temperature of 12 K from nearly DC to 5 GHz. We also designed and fabricated a Josephson array oscillator at 100 GHz, which consisted of 31 overdamped Josephson junctions placed at each half-wavelength in an Nb microstrip line. The estimated output power of the oscillator was 0.2 μW at 100 GHz, which can be increased by increasing the number of the oscillator junctions. These results suggest that the proposed SIS mixer-based amplifier is suitable for on-chip integrated circuits to be implemented in large-scale multipixel SIS receivers and quantum computers.

IEEE Transactions on Applied Superconductivity•Mar 8, 2023•5 citations

Performance of a sideband separating SIS mixer for 85-115 GHz

Vessen Vassilev, Victor Y. Belitsky, Christophe Risacher +3 more

We present results of the development and measurements of a heterodyne sideband separating SIS mixer for 85-115 GHz band. The sideband separation is achieved by using a quadrature scheme where a local oscillator (LO) pumps two identical mixer junctions with 90° phase difference. A key component in the mixer is a waveguide to microstrip double probe transition used as a power divider to split the input RF signal and to provide transition from waveguide to microstrip line. The double probe transition enables the integration of all mixer components on a single compact substrate. The design also involves coupled lines directional couplers to introduce the LO power to the mixer junctions. An additional pair of SIS junctions is used to provide termination loads for the idle ports of the couplers. Several mixer chips were tested and similar and consistent performance was obtained. The best single sideband noise temperature is below 40 K with IF bandwidth 3.4-4.6 GHz. The sideband suppression ratio is better than 12 dB for both sidebands across the entire RF band. The mixer was also successfully tested with 4-8 GHz IF band. In this paper we present complete mixer characterization data.

Proceedings of SPIE, the International Society for Optical Engineering/Proceedings of SPIE•Oct 8, 2004•0 citations
We have developed a waveguide-mounted photomixer in the 75-115 GHz band with a uni-traveling carrier photodiode which is optically-pumped by two 1.55-gm lasers. We have suc-cessfully demonstrated to produce an output power of,2 rnW at 100 GHz with an input laser power of-400 mW. An SIS mixer has been pumped by the photomixer as a local oscillator. It is found that in this configuration the photomixer can provide a sufficient local oscillator power required for optimum operation of the SIS mixer in the frequency band from 85 to 110 GHz. We have carried out similar experiment using a Gunn-diode local oscillator source and carefully compared the receiver noise temperature of the SIS mixer with those pumped by the photomixer. It is found that the receiver noise temperatures of the SIS mixer pumped by the photomixer is a little higher than those pumped by the Gunn oscillator.
A waveguide Josephson array oscillator operating at a frequency of 100 GHz was designed and fabricated to evaluate its pumping capability as a local oscillator (LO) for our proposed SIS mixer-based amplifier, which incorporates SIS up- and down-converters. The LO power requirement was estimated by simulation to be several nanowatts when the SIS up-converter is optimized for noise temperature and conversion gain under the condition that the input port at the microwave frequencies is connected to a practical 50-W system. The fabricated waveguide Josephson array oscillator module has 31 Nb Josephson junctions placed at the center of a half-wavelength resonator of an Nb microstripline. The output power from the waveguide oscillator module was evaluated by connecting it to the waveguide SIS detector module in a 4-K cryostat. Photon-assisted tunneling steps were clearly observed, from which the detected power was estimated to be approximately 17 nW at 106 GHz. These results suggest that the Josephson array oscillator is capable of being used in the SIS mixer-based amplifier as the LO.
We have developed a low-noise balanced superconductor-insulator-superconductor (SIS) mixer using a waveguide 3-dB 90-degree hybrid coupler over the radio frequency (RF) range of 790-950 GHz and intermediate frequency range of 4-12 GHz at an operating temperature of 4 K. The RF coupler was carefully designed in regards to machining errors so that the entire amplitude imbalance including the mixer gain became smaller. The fabricated coupler was characterized at both room and cryogenic temperature. The receiver noise temperature of the balanced SIS mixer was below 350 K over the entire frequency band and the local oscillator (LO) noise rejection ratio was estimated to be more than 15 dB. This result is equivalent to state-ofthe-art mixer performance at this frequency range.
In millimeter and submillimeter wave band, radio telescopes' observing efficiency and weak signal detecting capability have been greatly raised in the past tens of years, due to the application of the SIS mixers as their receiver front-ends. However general local power injection methods for a heterodyne receiver usually result in additional insertion loss which degrades sensitivity of SIS receivers. Based on the extremely small local power requirements of SIS quantum mixing, we developed a novel LO path built-in SIS mixer, in which an additional waveguide was built for LO power injection. Without any of traditional external LO diplexers (e.g., crossguide- couplers or beamsplitters), LO power is provided to SIS junctions through the LO waveguide and the junction chip which connects both LO- and signal waveguides. There is no RF signal lost due to coupling LO power since LO- and RF signal take different paths before arriving at junctions, resulting in a compact, stable and lower loss SIS receiver system. Experiments at 110- and 230 GHz bands show that there is no any problem to couple sufficient pumping power to SIS junctions from general LO sources for present LPB mixer, and the receiver sensitivities have a further improvement of about 10 K compared to our previous beamsplitter LO power coupling receiver system. We expect this LPB SIS mixer can be also applied into submillimeter wave band.
This paper reports on the performance of a broadband SIS receiver with no mechanical tuning elements was scale modelled and tested. The mixer mount had a broadband waveguide to microstripline transition consisting of a 4-step Chebychev single ridge transformer. The last step of the ridge connected the waveguide to a microstripline circuit. The on-chip circuit consisted of a microstripline, which transmitted the rf and the local oscillator signals to the SIS mixer. Some chips included a thin film strip inductor in parallel with the mixer. Both the SIS element and the inductor had rf grounds provided by 90{degrees} radial stubs. The inductor tuned out the junction capacitance to allow operation over the full frequency band. The SIS element can be a single junction or series array using Nb/AlO{sub x}/Nb trilayer tunnel junctions with areas as small as 0.5 {mu}m{sup 2} and V{sub m}(2mV) = 39 mV. Preliminary results indicated a DSB receiver noise temperature of 65-80 K across the band measured at 4.4 K with an internal cryogenic rf hot/cold source and with T{sub if} = 21 K. With another device, we achieved a mixer noise temperature of 35 K at 100 GHz increasing to 45 K at 79.5 andmore » 110 GHZ. Coupled mixer gain of up to +3 dB and negative dynamic resistance on the first photon step were observed. The lowest noise temperature was obtained for an untuned single junction mixer at 80 GHz; T{sub R} = 41 K and T{sub M} = 20 K were measured.« less
We propose a low-noise and low-power-consumption microwave amplifier using superconductor-insulator-superconductor (SIS) mixers as quasi-particle frequency up- and down-converters pumped by a Josephson array oscillator in the millimeter-wave band. A proof-of-concept study of an amplifier with two W-band waveguide mixers using Nb/Al-AlOx/Nb junctions in a cascade connection demonstrated an average gain of 6 dB and a noise temperature of 12 K from nearly DC to 5 GHz. We also designed and fabricated a Josephson array oscillator at 100 GHz, which consisted of 31 overdamped Josephson junctions placed at each half-wavelength in an Nb microstrip line. The estimated output power of the oscillator was 0.2 μW at 100 GHz, which can be increased by increasing the number of the oscillator junctions. These results suggest that the proposed SIS mixer-based amplifier is suitable for on-chip integrated circuits to be implemented in large-scale multipixel SIS receivers and quantum computers.
We present results of the development and measurements of a heterodyne sideband separating SIS mixer for 85-115 GHz band. The sideband separation is achieved by using a quadrature scheme where a local oscillator (LO) pumps two identical mixer junctions with 90° phase difference. A key component in the mixer is a waveguide to microstrip double probe transition used as a power divider to split the input RF signal and to provide transition from waveguide to microstrip line. The double probe transition enables the integration of all mixer components on a single compact substrate. The design also involves coupled lines directional couplers to introduce the LO power to the mixer junctions. An additional pair of SIS junctions is used to provide termination loads for the idle ports of the couplers. Several mixer chips were tested and similar and consistent performance was obtained. The best single sideband noise temperature is below 40 K with IF bandwidth 3.4-4.6 GHz. The sideband suppression ratio is better than 12 dB for both sidebands across the entire RF band. The mixer was also successfully tested with 4-8 GHz IF band. In this paper we present complete mixer characterization data.