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Superconducting Integrated Sub-mm Wave Receivers

V. P. Koshelets, S. V. Shitov, An. B. Ermakov, Lyudmila V. Filippenko, В. Л. Вакс, A. B. Baryshev, Willem Luinge, J. Mygind

Published Jan 1, 1999• 0 citations
OpenAlex

Abstract

The concept of the fully Superconducting Integrated Receiver (SIR) has been developed and experimentally demonstrated. The single-chip submm wave receiver includes a planar antenna integrated with a SIS mixer, which is pumped by an internal superconducting Flux Flow Oscillator (FFO) as local oscillator (LO). A DSB noise temperature below 100 K has been demonstrated around 500 GHz. Heterodyne measurements have shown that the instantaneous bandwidth of the receiver is 15 – 20 % which meets the requirements of practical applications. The double-dipole lens-antenna SIS mixer has an antenna beam ≈ f/9 with sidelobes below- 16 dB. This enables an efficient coupling of the SIR to the telescope antenna. With the FFO phase locked in the frequency range 270- 440 GHz a linewidth as low as 1 Hz has been measured relative to a reference oscillator. A compact array of 9 SIRs has been developed and tested. Each pixel contains an internally pumped receiver chip, which is mounted on the back of an elliptical silicon lens. A noise temperature of about 150 K has been measured at 500 GHz using the internal FFO for the imaging array of Integrated Receivers.

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In this report an overview of the results on the development of a single-chip superconducting integrated receiver for the Terahertz Limb Sounder (TELIS) balloon project intended to measure a variety of stratosphere trace gases is presented. The Superconducting Integrated Receiver (SIR) comprises in one chip a planar antenna integrated with a superconductor-insulator-superconductor (SIS) mixer, a superconducting Flux Flow Oscillator (FFO) acting as local oscillator (LO) and a second SIS harmonic mixer (HM) for FFO phase locking. As a result of the FFO design optimization a free-running linewidth between 9 and 1.5 MHz has been measured in the frequency range 500-710 GHz resulting in phase-locking of 35 to 95% of the FFO power correspondingly. A new generation of the SIR devices with improved FFO performance and optimized interface between FFO and SIS/HM has been developed and comprehensively tested. As a result all required TELIS parameters were demonstrated. Phase-locked FFO operation over entire SIR channel frequency range has been realized, spectral resolution below 1 MHz has been confirmed by gas cell and CW signal measurements. An uncorrected double side band (DSB) noise temperature below 250 K has been measured with the phase-locked FFO. The intermediate frequency bandwidth 4-8 GHz has been realized. To ensure remote operation of the phase-locked SIR several procedures for its automatic computer control have been developed and tested.

IEEE Transactions on Applied Superconductivity•Jun 1, 2007•35 citations
The concept of the fully Superconducting Integrated Receiver (SIR) has been developed and experimentally demonstrated. The single-chip submm wave receiver includes a planar antenna integrated with a SIS mixer, which is pumped by an internal superconducting Flux Flow Oscillator (FFO) as local oscillator (LO). A DSB noise temperature below 100 K has been demonstrated around 500 GHz. Heterodyne measurements have shown that the instantaneous bandwidth of the receiver is 15 – 20 % which meets the requirements of practical applications. The double-dipole lens-antenna SIS mixer has an antenna beam ≈ f/9 with sidelobes below- 16 dB. This enables an efficient coupling of the SIR to the telescope antenna. With the FFO phase locked in the frequency range 270- 440 GHz a linewidth as low as 1 Hz has been measured relative to a reference oscillator. A compact array of 9 SIRs has been developed and tested. Each pixel contains an internally pumped receiver chip, which is mounted on the back of an elliptical silicon lens. A noise temperature of about 150 K has been measured at 500 GHz using the internal FFO for the imaging array of Integrated Receivers.
The concept of a fully superconducting integrated receiver is developed and experimentally tested. This single-chip sub-mm wave receiver includes a planar antenna integrated with a SIS mixer and an internal superconducting Josephson-type local oscillator (flux-flow oscillator, FFO). The receiver is tested with a DSB noise temperature below 100 K around 500 GHz being pumped by its internal local oscillator (LO). The instantaneous bandwidth of 15-20% is estimated via FTS and heterodyne measurements that meet the requirements of most practical applications. The far field antenna beam is measured as ≈ f /10 with sidelobes below -16 dB that is suitable for coupling to a real telescope antenna. A nine-pixel imaging array receiver with each pixel containing an internally pumped receiver chip is developed and tested. A linewidth of the phase locked FFO as low as 1 Hz is measured relative to a reference oscillator in the frequency range 270-440 GHz. An rf amplifier on the base of a dc SQUID is developed and tested showing a noise figure below 10 K at 4 GHz and a bandwidth of about 300 MHz. This amplifier can be included as a part of an integrated receiver that is valuable for array applications.
A fully superconductive integrated receiver is very promising for submm space astronomy where low weight, low power consumption, and limited volume are required. The new versions of the integrated quasioptical submm wave receiver have been designed, fabricated and tested in the frequency range of 450-700 GHz. The integrated receiver chip comprises a planar double dipole antenna, SIS-mixer and on-chip superconductive Flux-Flow Oscillator (FFO) with matching circuits. The receiver noise temperature (DSB) as low as 140 K at 500 GHz has been obtained. A light-weight and low power consuming submm imaging array is under development. Each of 9 pixels of the array is realized by an all-Nb single-chip superconductive receiver, mounted on an elliptical silicon lens with anti-reflection coating. The experimental test results of one pixel receiver are presented. A computer based system is developed to control the operation of the integrated receiver.
Experimental details of a unique superconducting imaging array receiver are discussed. Each pixel contains an internally pumped receiver chip mounted on the back of the elliptical microwave lens. Each chip comprises a quasi-optical SIS mixer integrated with a superconducting flux-flow oscillator (FFO) both fabricated from the same Nb/AlO/sub x//Nb trilayer on a silicon substrate. Properties of the integrated lens antenna were studied using an externally pumped reference SIS mixer which showed antenna sidelobes below /spl sim/17 dB and a receiver double side band noise temperature, T/sub RX/(DSB), below 100 K within the frequency range 460-500 GHz that is close to the quantum noise. For the imaging array T/sub RX/(DSB)=150 K has been measured at 500 GHz using the internal flux-flow oscillator as a local oscillator (LO). A balanced SIS mixer was tested showing T/sub RX/(DSB)<100 K within the range of 480-510 GHz using the internal LO. A computer system was developed to control simultaneously the dc bias of the SIS mixer and the frequency and power provided by FFO. The system also performs automatic optimization of the receiver noise temperature.
A Superconducting Integrated Receiver (SIR) comprises on one chip all elements needed for heterodyne detection: a low-noise SIS mixer with quasioptical antenna, a Flux-Flow Oscillator (FFO) acting as a Local Oscillator (LO) and a second SIS harmonic mixer (HM) for the FFO phase locking. Light weight and low power consumption combined with nearly quantum limited sensitivity and a wide tuning range of the FFO make SIR a perfect candidate for many practical applications. In particular, the SIR developed for novel balloon borne instrument TELIS (TErahertz and submillimeter LImb Sounder) covers frequency range 480 - 650 GHz. As a result of recent receiver's optimization the DSB noise temperature was measured as low as 120 K for the SIR with intermediate frequency (IF) band 4 - 8 GHz. The capability of the SIR for high resolution atmospheric spectroscopy has been successfully proven with scientific balloon flights from Kiruna, North Sweden. Diurnal cycles of ClO and BrO has been observed with BrO line level of only about 0.5 K. Possibility to use the SIRs for analysis of the breathed out air at medical survey has been demonstrated.
A Superconducting Integrated Receiver (SIR) [1, 2] was proposed more than 10 years ago and finally has been developed for practical applications [3]. A SIR comprises in one chip (size of 4 mm*4 mm*0.5 mm) a low-noise SIS mixer with quasioptical antenna, an flux-flow oscillator (FFO) [4] acting as a Local Oscillator (LO) and a second SIS harmonic mixer (HM) for the FFO phase locking, see Fig. 1. All components of the SIR microcircuits are fabricated in a high quality Nb-AlN/NbN-Nb tri-layer on a Si substrate [5]. The receiver chip is placed on the flat back surface of the silicon lens, forming an integrated lens-antenna. Light weight and low power consumption combined with nearly quantum limited sensitivity and a wide tuning range of the FFO make SIR a perfect candidate for many practical applications. In particular we have developed integrated receiver for novel balloon borne instrument TELIS (Terahertz Limb Sounder) [6]. TELIS is a collaborative European project to build a three-channel heterodyne balloon-based spectrometer for measuring a variety of the stratosphere constituents.
In this report an overview of the results on the development of a single-chip superconducting integrated receiver for the Terahertz Limb Sounder (TELIS) balloon project intended to measure a variety of stratosphere trace gases is presented. The Superconducting Integrated Receiver (SIR) comprises in one chip a planar antenna integrated with a superconductor-insulator-superconductor (SIS) mixer, a superconducting Flux Flow Oscillator (FFO) acting as local oscillator (LO) and a second SIS harmonic mixer (HM) for FFO phase locking. As a result of the FFO design optimization a free-running linewidth between 9 and 1.5 MHz has been measured in the frequency range 500-710 GHz resulting in phase-locking of 35 to 95% of the FFO power correspondingly. A new generation of the SIR devices with improved FFO performance and optimized interface between FFO and SIS/HM has been developed and comprehensively tested. As a result all required TELIS parameters were demonstrated. Phase-locked FFO operation over entire SIR channel frequency range has been realized, spectral resolution below 1 MHz has been confirmed by gas cell and CW signal measurements. An uncorrected double side band (DSB) noise temperature below 250 K has been measured with the phase-locked FFO. The intermediate frequency bandwidth 4-8 GHz has been realized. To ensure remote operation of the phase-locked SIR several procedures for its automatic computer control have been developed and tested.