Terahertz mixing in MgB2 microbolometers

Artikel i vetenskaplig tidskrift, 2007

Authors report on a terahertz (600 GHz) mixing experiment with MgB2 microbolometers in the resistive state. We observed that for a 20 nm film a mixer gain bandwidth of 2.3 GHz can be achieved, corresponding to an energy relaxation time of 70 ps. The experimental results were analyzed using a two-temperature model. As a result, the phonon escape time  20 ps was deduced. At 1.6THz the MgB2 mixer uncorrected noise temperature was 11000K. The obtained results show that MgB2 bolometers are good prospects for the terahertz range as both broadband mixers and fast direct detectors.