Multifrequency Seashell Slot Antenna With Cold-Electron Bolometers for Cosmology Space Missions

Journal article, 2016

A novel type of the "seashell" multichroic polarized antenna is proposed for cosmology space missions. The polarized slot antennas are arranged in the compact form of a seashell with individual slots for each frequency and each polarization. Such an arrangement gives a unique opportunity for independent adjusting individual parameters of slots with microstrip lines (MSLs) and bolometers. For each frequency band, the seashell antenna contains two pairs of orthogonal slots for each polarization connected by MSLs with a bolometer in the middle for in-phase operation. To fit slots in the lambda/2 area for the best beam shape, lumped capacitances in the form of the H-slot were introduced. Ellipticity of a beam was improved to the level of better than 1%. The seashell antenna gives a unique opportunity to select the needed bandwidth using two options. The first option is the frequency selection by resonance properties of slots with MSLs and resistive cold-electron bolometer (CEB). The second option is the frequency selection by resonant CEB with an internal nanofilter organized by a kinetic inductance of the NbN superconducting nanostrip and a capacitance of the nanoscale superconductor-insulator-normal tunnel junction.