MgB2 Hot-Electron Bolometer Mixers at Terahertz Frequencies

Journal article, 2015

In this paper, we compare the performance of MgB2 Hot-Electron Bolometer Mixers operating at Local Oscillator frequencies of 0.6 and 1.63 THz. The minimum noise temperatures that were obtained are 700 and 1150 K for 0.6 and 1.63 THz, respectively. The receiver noise bandwidth is of the order of 2.2-3 GHz for 10-nm-thick HEB devices with a Tc of 8.5 K. Sub-micrometer size HEBs were also fabricated with no degradation of the initial film quality when a 20-nm MgB2 film with a Tc of 22 K was used. In the direct detection mode, the maximum voltage responsivity is in the range of 1-2 kV/W at 1.63 THz and the optimal bias current is around 1/4-1/3 of the Ic at 4.2 K.