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Performance Investigation of a Quasi-Optical NbN HEB Mixer at Submillimeter Wavelength

Wei Miao, Y. Delorme, A. Féret, R. Lefèvre, Lucas Benoït, Frédéric Dauplay, Jean-Michel Krieg, G. Beaudin, W. Zhang, Yuan Ren, S. C. Shi

Published Apr 1, 2009• 0 citations
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Abstract

In this paper, the performance of a quasi-optical phonon-cooled NbN superconducting hot electron bolometer (HEB) mixer is thoroughly investigated. The variation of the receiver noise temperature and the conversion gain around 600 GHz with respect to DC bias voltage and LO pumping level has been measured. The lowest receiver noise temperature is 750 K and reduced to about 250 K after correcting the quasi-optical losses before the HEB mixer. We compared the measured results with the predictions according to one dimensional distributed hot spot model. A reasonable match between theoretical model and experiment is observed. In addition, the direct response of the HEB mixer (integrated with a log-periodic spiral antenna) is measured by using Fourier Transform Spectrometer (FTS). The stability of the receiver is also investigated by means of Allan variance time measurements performed with an intermediate frequency (IF) bandwidth of 40 MHz.

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In this paper, the performance of a quasi-optical phonon-cooled NbN superconducting hot electron bolometer (HEB) mixer is thoroughly investigated. The variation of the receiver noise temperature and the conversion gain around 600 GHz with respect to DC bias voltage and LO pumping level has been measured. The lowest receiver noise temperature is 750 K and reduced to about 250 K after correcting the quasi-optical losses before the HEB mixer. We compared the measured results with the predictions according to one dimensional distributed hot spot model. A reasonable match between theoretical model and experiment is observed. In addition, the direct response of the HEB mixer (integrated with a log-periodic spiral antenna) is measured by using Fourier Transform Spectrometer (FTS). The stability of the receiver is also investigated by means of Allan variance time measurements performed with an intermediate frequency (IF) bandwidth of 40 MHz.
In this paper, we report the performance of a quasi-optical NbN superconducting HEB (hot electron bolometer) mixer measured at 500 GHz. The quasi-optical NbN superconducting HEB mixer is cryogenically cooled by a 4-K close-cycled refrigerator. Its receiver noise temperature and conversion gain are thoroughly investigated for different LO pumping levels and dc biases. The lowest receiver noise temperature is found to be approximately 1200 K, and reduced to about 445 K after correcting the loss of the measurement system. The stability of the mixer’s IF output power is also demonstrated.
In this paper, the performance of a quasi-optical NbN superconducting hot-electron bolometer (HEB) mixer, cryogenically cooled by a close-cycled 4-K refrigerator, is thoroughly investigated at 300, 500, and 850 GHz. The lowest receiver noise temperatures measured at the respective three frequencies are 1400, 900, and 1350 K, which can go down to 659, 413, and 529 K, respectively, after correcting the loss and associated noise contribution of the quasi-optical system before the measured superconducting HEB mixer. The stability of the quasi-optical superconducting HEB mixer is also investigated here. The Allan variance time measured with a local oscillator pumping at 500 GHz and an IF bandwidth of 110 MHz is 1.5 s at the dc-bias voltage exhibiting the lowest noise temperature and increases to 2.5 s at a dc bias twice that voltage.
In this paper, we report the performance of a quasi-optical NbN superconducting HEB (hot electron bolometer) mixer measured at 500 and 850GHz. The quasi-optical NbN superconducting HEB mixer is cryogenically cooled by a 4-K close-cycled refrigerator. Measured receiver noise temperature at 850 and 500GHz are 3000K and 2500K respectively with wire grid as beamsplitter, while the lowest receiver noise temperature is found to be approximately 1200K with Mylar film. The theoretical receiver noise temperature (taking into account the elliptical polarization of log-spiral antenna) is consistent with measured one. The receiver noise temperature and conversion gain with 15-μm Mylar film as the beamsplitter at 500GHz are thoroughly investigated for different LO pumping levels and dc biases. The stability of the mixer’s IF output power is also demonstrated.
In this paper, we present the performance of a quasi-optical NbN superconducting HEB (hot-electron bolometer) mixer cryogenically cooled by a 4-K close-cycled refrigerator. The variation of resistance of the NbN HEB mixer with respect to temperature is examined at first. Its receiver noise temperature and conversion gain are measured at different dc bias voltages and LO pumping levels. The lowest receiver noise temperature is 1400 K (with no corrections), and reduced to about 358 K after eliminating the quasi-optical losses. The stability of IF output power of this HEB mixer is also discussed.
In this paper we focus mainly on the investigation of the performance of a quasi-optical (planar log-spiral antenna) phonon-cooled NbN superconducting hot electron bolometer (HEB) mixer, which is cryogenically cooled by a close-cycled 4-K cryocooler, at 500 and 850 GHz frequency bands. The mixer's noise performance, stability of IF output power, and local oscillator (LO) power requirement are characterized for three NbN superconducting HEB devices of different sizes. The transmission characteristics of Mylar and Zitex films with incidence waves of an elliptical polarization are also examined by measuring the mixer's noise temperature. The lowest receiver noise temperatures (with no corrections) of 750 and 1100 K are measured at 500 and 850 GHz, respectively. Experimental results also demonstrate that the bigger the HEB device is, the higher the stability of IF output power becomes.
The heterodyne mixing and direct detection performance of a superconducting NbN hot-electron bolometer (HEB) integrated with a log-spiral antenna have been thoroughly characterized. The corrected receiver noise temperature and IF gain bandwidth are approximately 800 K at 0.5 THz, 750 K at 0.85 THz and 3 GHz at its optimum bias point. In addition, both the receiver noise temperature and IF gain bandwidth were found insensitive to the bath temperature, while the bias point was fixed, in good agreement with those simulated with the hot-spot model taking account of the HEB's current-dependent resistive transition. Furthermore, the HEB's frequency response was measured by a Fourier transform spectrometer at different bias points and bath temperatures. The estimated noise equivalent power (NEP) was close to 10-13W/Hz0.5around the HEB's transition temperature.