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Asia-Pacific Microwave Conference (APMC)

Study of the Input RF noise of a THz superconductor-insulator-superconductor receiver

Ming Yao, Dong Liu, Jie Hu, Jing Li, Sheng‐Cai Shi

Published Dec 1, 2015• 0 citations
Publisher

Abstract

The receiver noise temperature of THz superconductor-insulator-superconductor (SIS) receivers is composed of several contributions, in which the input RF noise is usually not negligible. In this paper, we investigate the input RF noise (Trf) of a waveguide superconducting niobium nitride (NbN) SIS receiver operating at 0.5THz. In particular, the input RF noise is measured for two respective cases of a small beam aperture surrounded by an aluminum plate and a blackbody, which is located just in front of the 0.5THz NbN SIS receiver. Detailed measurement results will be presented.

DOI
10.1109/apmc.2015.7413035

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The receiver noise temperature of THz superconductor-insulator-superconductor (SIS) receivers is composed of several contributions, in which the input RF noise is usually not negligible. In this paper, we investigate the input RF noise (Trf) of a waveguide superconducting niobium nitride (NbN) SIS receiver operating at 0.5THz. In particular, the input RF noise is measured for two respective cases of a small beam aperture surrounded by an aluminum plate and a blackbody, which is located just in front of the 0.5THz NbN SIS receiver. Detailed measurement results will be presented.
Superconductor-insulator-superconductor (SIS) mixers, with nearly quantum-limited sensitivity, have been playing an important role in Terahertz astronomy. For practical THz SIS receivers, however, the measured noise temperatures are sometimes higher than the expected value. The extra noise is mainly due to considerable RF noise contribution from the receiver components such as beam splitter, Dewar window, and infrared filter. In this paper, we mainly present the simulation and measurement results of the three components with different materials and thicknesses. Their noise contributions are also analyzed.
In THz regime, NbN Superconductor - Insulator - Superconductor (SIS) mixers are potentially applicable to astronomy and atmospheric research. We have developed a 0.5-THz waveguide SIS mixer incorporating twin NbN/AlN/NbN junctions and NbN/MgO/NbN tuning circuit. In this paper, we compare it with a 0.5-THz Nb SIS mixer, which has been successfully used on POST telescope. The design and fabrication parameters of the two mixers are introduced, and the noise temperatures are measured. In addition, the direct detection performance is analyzed, such as the shot noise, the current responsivity and the noise equivalent power. The detailed results are presented.
We report the detection of spectral line emission from CO (J=4–3) at 0.46THz using a low-noise 0.5THz superconductor-insulator-superconductor (SIS) mixer incorporating NbN∕AlN∕NbN tunnel junctions (with an energy gap of 5.6meV) and a NbN∕MgO∕NbN tuning circuit, which is installed on a 30cm submillimeter telescope. Uncorrected receiver noise temperatures as low as 149K are measured on the telescope from 0.45–0.50THz for an unoptimized device. Moreover, the 0.5THz all-NbN SIS mixer exhibits high stability in a considerably large dc bias range and low noise at significantly high temperatures compared with a 0.5THz Nb SIS mixer.
China is planning to build a 5-m THz telescope named DATE5 at Dome A in Antarctica. The telescope will operate in 0.85 THz and 1.5 THz frequency bands. A waveguide superconductor-insulator-superconductor (SIS) mixer is developed for the 0.85 THz frequency band by utilizing parallel-connected tunnel junctions (PCTJ) with Nb/AlN/NbN trilayer and NbTiN/SiO2/Al microstrip tuning circuit on quartz substrate. Its frequency response is measured by a Fourier-transform spectrometer (FTS), showing an FWHM frequency coverage of 762-925 GHz. The measured uncorrected double sideband (DSB) receiver noise temperature is approximately equal to 450 K at 840 GHz. With the vacuum window and beamsplitter losses corrected, the receiver noise temperature is less than five times the quantum-limited noise. Detailed mixer design and measurement results will be presented.
This paper describes the first experimental results for a waveguide-type all-NbN superconductor-insulator-superconductor (SIS) heterodyne mixer on an MgO substrate designed to operate over the gap frequency of Nb. The mixer consists of an NbN/MgO/NbN junction, which has a length of one wavelength at 880GHz as a tuning circuit, an NbN/MgO/NbN microstrip as a λ/4 impedance transformer, and an RF choke filter. The mixer chip was designed using a high-frequency-structure simulator. Its return-loss and embedding-impedance characteristics were examined using a 180-times-scaled mixer model. By optimizing the cutting and polishing processes for the MgO substrate, we were able to fabricate the mixer chip with an accuracy of less than 5 μm. We succeeded in mounting the chip on a mixer block and in estimating the receiver noise temperature. The uncorrected minimum double-sideband receiver noise temperature was 740 K at 824 GHz. A comparison of the receiver noise temperature in a quasi-optical SIS mixer fabricated on the same wafer as the waveguide mixer showed that input noise was the major contributor to receiver noise in the waveguide mixer.
We present the development of a low noise superconductor insulator superconductor (SIS) mixer for the 1.1 - 1.25 THz heterodyne receiver of FIRST space radiotelescope. The quasi-optical SIS mixer has two NbTiN/AlN/Nb junctions with critical current density 30 kA/sq cm. The individual junction area is close to 0.65 square micrometers. The SIS junctions are coupled to the optical input beam through a planar double slot antenna and a Si hyperhemispherical lens. The minimum DSB receiver noise temperature is 650 K, about 12 hv/k.