Multichroic seashell antenna with internal filters by resonant slots and cold-electron bolometers

Journal article, 2019

We have developed and realized a novel multichroic seashell antenna with internal bandpass filters by resonant slots and cold-electron bolometers (CEB). Slots and CEBs are connected by coplanar waveguides (CPW) instead of microstrip lines to realize the most reliable single-layer technology. The internal resonance is organized by a series resonance of slots with CPW and capacitances of superconductor/insulator/normal (SIN) tunnel junctions. In contrast, a conventional multichroic pixel consists of a wideband sinuous antenna coupled to TES detectors by long microstrip lines with overlap and external on-chip filters for different frequency bands. A common problem with a conventional multichroic pixel is that the beam width is frequency dependent for different frequency bands. Besides that, this system with external filters is quite large and includes long microstrip lines with unavoidable overlap and rater high losses. The multichroic seashell antenna with internal resonances avoids all these problems. The main advantage of this antenna is an opportunity to tune separate pairs of phased slots for each frequency band independently. We used pairs of lambda/2 slots for 75 and 105 GHz, connected by CPW to CEBs. The connection of CPW to slots was shifted closer to the end of slots for proper RF matching. Each CEB included two SIN junctions and an absorber. SIN junctions had capacitances of 77 and 67 fF. Wave impedance of the antenna was near 50 Ohm and resistance of the absorber was matched to this value. RF testing was done at 314 mK irradiating this chip by frequency sweep of a generator from 78-118 GHz. The response curves have shown clear resonances around 75 and 105 GHz with a quality factor around 5. These experiments confirmed that the seashell antenna with the internal filters by resonant slots and CEBs could effectively be used for creating multiband elements.