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IEEE Lasers and Electro-Optics Society Annual Meeting (LEOS)

Microwave and millimeter-wave generation in superconductive traveling-wave photomixers

Behnood G. Ghamsari, A. Hamed Majedi

Published Nov 1, 2008• 1 citation
Publisher

Abstract

Superconductive traveling-wave photomixers (STWPMs) are introduced as viable means to generate microwave and millimeter-wave signals. STWPMs operate based on the kinetic-inductive photoresponse of a superconducting thin film integrated with an optical waveguide and a microwave/mm-wave transmission line.
DOI
10.1109/leos.2008.4688671

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We introduce and analyze an optoelectronic mixer (OEM) based on the kinetic inductive photoresponse in high-temperature superconducting (HTS) films. This device combines photodetection and optoelectronic mixing functions through a nonlinear change in the kinetic inductance of the HTS film when it is irradiated by an optically modulated microwave signal. A comprehensive theoretical analysis is presented using the two-temperature model to describe the nonbolometric (quantum) photoresponse and the kinetic inductance model for the electrical part. Upon the optical irradiation, the change in the electron temperature of the HTS film leads to a parametric change in the kinetic inductance of the photoexcited HTS bridge, which in the presence of a bias current produces a periodic voltage waveform. In order to obtain the temporal behavior and the frequency content of the output voltage in terms of the input local oscillator and modulation frequencies, the kinetic inductance model and Fourier series analysis have been used and their physical consequences have been discussed in detail. The merit characteristics of the kinetic inductive HTS-OEM, such as intrinsic and optical conversion gains and noise temperature, are evaluated and compared with other high-frequency mixers. This is followed by the numerical simulation of the proposed device.
We have fabricated a generation and detection system of photomixing signals using a photomixing technique and a Josephson junction detector. Up to now, an electromagnetic wave generated by a heterodyne mixing of two lasers was emitted from an antenna, and irradiated to a Josephson junction. In this study, we have developed the system, and the photomixing signal was introduced into a coaxial cable and a coplanar wave guide coupled to a Josephson junction. This structure is more suitable for device application since it can easily be integrated into electronic devices. With this system we can clearly observed photomixing signals from 16 GHz to 95 GHz using a uni-traveling-carrier photodiode as a photomixer as well as signals in the range of 14 GHz to 50 GHz using an InGaAs PIN photodiode.
Abstract It is expected that the operation of microwave kinetic inductance travelling wave parametric amplifiers (KITWPAs) can be extended to the millimetre (mm) and the sub-mm wavelength range as long as the frequency is below the gap frequency of the superconducting film. This paper presents possible mm-wave designs for KITWPAs based on microstrip transmission lines. Our device is designed based on the BCS (Bardeen–Cooper–Schrieffer) model which successfully reproduces the measured transmission profile, gain, bandwidth, and nonlinear response of a fabricated KITWPA operating in the Ka-band, and includes the millimetre-wave dielectric loss determined by fitting the quality factor of a W-band microstrip resonator. We suggest a layout for a KITWPA operating near 220 GHz that can be fabricated using the same superconducting properties as the Ka-band device and can be coupled to a waveguide system. We conclude the paper by extending the 220 GHz design to higher frequency regimes approaching 1 THz.