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International Conference on Infrared, Millimeter, and Terahertz Waves (IRMMW-THz)

0.34- THz High-Temperature Superconducting Josephson-Junction Mixer with Superior Noise and Conversion Performance

Xiang Gao, Jia Du, T. Zhang, Y. Jay Guo

Published Sep 1, 2018• 3 citations
Publisher

Abstract

We present, in this work, a new thin-film antenna-coupled high-temperature superconducting (HTS) Josephson-junction terahertz (THz) mixer that demonstrates superior performance at frequencies around 0.34 THz. A novel dual-meander-slot thin-film antenna is designed to significantly improve the antenna-junction impedance matching and thus more efficient coupling of the THz signal power. Theoretical and experimental investigations are carried out to evaluate the mixer performance. This mixer can be applied to the sensitive THz wireless receivers.

DOI
10.1109/irmmw-thz.2018.8510355

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Abstract This paper presents a wideband terahertz (THz) mixer based on a thin-film antenna-coupled high-temperature superconducting (HTS) YBa 2 Cu 3 O 7−x (YBCO) step-edge Josephson junction. The HTS mixer enables the flexible harmonic mixing operation at multiple THz bands with the same microwave local oscillator (LO) source, and features very wide intermediate-frequency or instantaneous bandwidth. In order to optimize the frequency down-conversion performance of the mixer, systematic electromagnetic design and analysis have been carried out to improve the power coupling of THz radiation as well as wideband transmission of microwave signals. Experimental characterization of a fabricated device prototype has demonstrated that the mixer exhibits good performance at both the 200 GHz and 600 GHz bands. Detailed measurement results including the DC characteristics, LO pumping requirement, frequency response, mixing linearity and conversion gain are presented in this paper.
High temperature superconducting (HTS) Josephson junction (JJ) mixers are attractive candidates in receivers for terahertz (THz) communication due to their high sensitivity, wide bandwidth, low local oscillator (LO) power requirement and high harmonic numbers. The required LO frequencies and the cost can be greatly reduced when harmonic signals can be detected at high orders (more than 100). In this paper, up to 114thharmonic mixings is presented in a HTS bicrystal YBa2Cu3O7-δ(YBCO) JJ harmonic mixer coupled with a bowtie loaded meander antenna at 0.21 THz. HTS JJs will be promising high-order harmonic mixers for THz practical applications on reception or detection at THz bands.
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This paper reviews our major technical achievement in high-Tcsuperconducting (HTS) terahertz (THz) receivers or heterodyne mixers in recent years. By virtue of innovative on-chip antenna/circuit designs, accurate device modelling and simulation, and advanced YBa2Cu3O7-x (YBCO) step-edge junction technology, we have successfully developed a series of HTS Josephson THz mixers with superior performance in terms of operating temperature, intermediate-frequency (IF) bandwidth, conversion gain and noise temperature. These mixers serve as promising receiver frontends for THz wireless communication and sensing systems.