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Proceedings of the IEEE

Superconducting detectors and mixers for millimeter and submillimeter astrophysics

Jonas Stasys Zmuidzinas, P. L. Richards

Published Sep 20, 2004• 297 citations
Publisher

Abstract

Superconducting detectors will play an increasingly significant role in astrophysics, especially at millimeter through far-IR wavelengths, where the scientific opportunities include key problems in astronomy and cosmology. Superconducting detectors offer many benefits: outstanding sensitivity, lithographic fabrication, and large array sizes, especially through the recent development of multiplexing techniques. This paper describes the scientific opportunities, the basic physics of these devices, the techniques for radiation coupling, and reviews the recent progress in direct detectors, such as transition-edge bolometers, and the work on tunnel junction (superconductor-insulator-superconductor) and hot-electron mixers.

DOI
10.1109/jproc.2004.833670

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Superconducting detectors will play an increasingly significant role in astrophysics, especially at millimeter through far-IR wavelengths, where the scientific opportunities include key problems in astronomy and cosmology. Superconducting detectors offer many benefits: outstanding sensitivity, lithographic fabrication, and large array sizes, especially through the recent development of multiplexing techniques. This paper describes the scientific opportunities, the basic physics of these devices, the techniques for radiation coupling, and reviews the recent progress in direct detectors, such as transition-edge bolometers, and the work on tunnel junction (superconductor-insulator-superconductor) and hot-electron mixers.
The terahertz regime, as a last radio window, remains to be fully explored, and astronomical and atmospheric observations in this regime are scientifically important. Like other frequency regimes, developing high-sensitivity detectors (coherent and incoherent) is of particular significance for both ground-based and space-borne facilities. As the coherent detector of choice below 1.4 THz, superconductor-insulator-superconductor (SIS) heterodyne mixers have achieved as high a sensitivity as five times the quantum limit around 1.4 THz. It is, however, still a challenge to developing SIS mixers at frequencies beyond 1.4 THz with considerable transmission loss in superconducting circuits due to the Cooper-pair breaking by energetic photons and increased many difficulties in designing and fabricating. So far, superconducting hot electron bolometer (HEB) mixers have been the most sensitive heterodyne detectors at frequencies above 1.5 THz, and successfully used to detect molecular spectral lines up to 2.5 THz from ground-based and space telescopes. Although spiral-antenna coupled NbN HEB mixers show a good sensitivity in the whole THz frequency range, the directly measured spectral response with Fourier transform spectrometer falls quickly as frequency increases, especially above 3 THz. The terahertz band is also of particular importance to observe astronomical objects such as cosmic microwave background, early distant objects, cold objects and dusty objects. Aiming at such objects, we develop a terahertz imaging array system by combining advanced superconducting detectors such as transition edge sensor (TES) and microwave kinetic inductance detectors (MKIDs), thus the system has a frequency band centred at 350 m, an operational temperature of 0.3 K, and a sensitivity reaching background limit performance for ground-based applications. In addition, it is expected to have some breakthroughs in ultra-sensitive superconducting TES and MKID, low noise multi-channel readout and multiplexing, efficient terahertz-wave coupling technology, and large-scale array system integration. The developed terahertz imaging array system will serve as the next-generation instrument of Dome A 5 m terahertz telescope, conducting a 350 m-band legacy survey for studying the planets, stars, galaxies and cosmology. Besides the application in astronomy, the developed terahertz imaging array system can also be applied to some areas requiring rapid detection such as security, deep space exploration, and biomedical imaging. In this paper, we mainly introduce the superconducting detectors developed at Purple Mountain Observatory and those for international collaborative projects.
Sensitive heterodyne receivers are being built at ever higher frequencies with superconducting (SIS) junctions as the first mixer. These devices have extremely sharp non-linearities in their current-voltage characteristics as a result of quantum-mechanical tunneling of electrons across thin insulating barriers. The low energy scale set by the magnitude of the superconducting energy gap implies very low local oscillator power requirements for heterodyne operation. Some general system design considerations for astrophysical receivers are reviewed. These principles are illustrated by discussing two specific applications: a 230 GHz SIS receiver recently installed as a facility instrument at the Swedish-ESO submillimeter telescope in Chile, and the broader receiver requirements of the 6-antenna submillimeter array (SMA), an interferometer now being designed at the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics. The SMA will require receivers at frequencies as high as 820 GHz, and will place some unique demands on detector performance.
Josephson junctions are highly nonlinear and respond up to infrared frequencies. A wide variety of high frequency applications have been explored. In addition, several high frequency superconducting devices are being developed which do not use the Josephson effect. These include a superconducting version of the Schottky barrier diode for use as a heterodyne mixer and a video detector, and also a composite superconducting bolometer. In this review, the state of development of superconducting mixers, detectors, and parametric amplifiers at microwave, millimeter, and submillimeter wavelengths is discussed. Emphasis will be placed on developments which have taken place since 1974 when a previous review was circulated.
The superconducting components developed for infrared and millimeter-wave receivers are reviewed. A brief description is given of the scientific principles on which each device is based, followed by a discussion of the performance that has been achieved in terms of the appropriate figures of merit. Comments are made about the possibility that useful device performance can be achieved by using the new high-T/sub c/ oxide superconductors. The authors emphasize photon-assisted quasi-particle tunneling and the superconductor-insulator-superconductor (SIS) quasi-particle mixer, which is the only superconducting component to find substantial applications at infrared or millimeter wavelengths. Descriptions are given of the SIS quasi-particle direct detector, the Josephson effect oscillator, the Josephson effect parametric amplifier, and the various superconducting bolometers, for which practical applications appear possible. The less promising Josephson-effect detector and mixer and the various ideas for superconducting photon detectors are described because of the current interest in possible high-T/sub c/ versions of these devices.>