5.3 THz MgB2hot electron bolometer mixer operated at 20 K
Paper i proceeding, 2022

Heterodyne receivers combining a NbN HEB mixer with a local oscillator (LO) are the work horse for high resolution (≥106) spectroscopic observations at supra-Terahertz frequencies. We report an MgB2 HEB mixer working at 5.3 THz with 20 K operation temperature based on a previously published paper [Y. Gan et al, Appl. Phys. Lett., 119, 202601 (2021)]. The HEB consists of a 7 nm thick MgB2 submicron-bridge contacted with a spiral antenna. It has a Tc of 38.4 K. By using hot/cold blackbody loads and a Mylar beam splitter all in vacuum, and applying a 5.25 THz FIR gas laser as the LO, we measured a minimal DSB receiver noise temperature of 3960 K. The latter gives a DSB mixer noise temperature of 1470 K. This sensitivity is 28 times better than a room temperature Schottky mixer at 4.7 THz, but about 2.5 times less sensitive than an NbN HEB mixer. The latter must be operated around 4 K. The IF noise bandwidth is about 10 GHz, which is 2.5-3 times larger than an NbN HEB. With further optimization, such MgB2 HEBs are expected to reach a better sensitivity. That the low noise, wide IF bandwidth MgB2 HEB mixers can be operated in a compact, low dissipation 20 K Stirling cooler can significantly reduce the cost and complexity of heterodyne instruments and therefore facilitate new space missions.

IF bandwidth

Mixer

MgB2

High Tc

Space instrumentation

THz

Superconductor

Hot electron bolometer

Författare

J. R. Gao

TU Delft

Netherlands Institute for Space Research (SRON)

Y. Gan

Rijksuniversiteit Groningen

Netherlands Institute for Space Research (SRON)

B. Mirzaei

TU Delft

Netherlands Institute for Space Research (SRON)

J. R.G.D. Silva

Rijksuniversiteit Groningen

Netherlands Institute for Space Research (SRON)

Serguei Cherednichenko

Chalmers, Mikroteknologi och nanovetenskap, Terahertz- och millimetervågsteknik

Proceedings of SPIE - The International Society for Optical Engineering

0277786X (ISSN) 1996756X (eISSN)

Vol. 12190 121900F
9781510653610 (ISBN)

Millimeter, Submillimeter, and Far-Infrared Detectors and Instrumentation for Astronomy XI 2022
Montreal, Canada,

Fiberintegrerad MgB2 singlefoton detektorer

Vetenskapsrådet (VR) (2019-04345), 2020-01-01 -- 2023-12-31.

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Ämneskategorier

Annan fysik

Signalbehandling

Annan elektroteknik och elektronik

DOI

10.1117/12.2630161

Mer information

Senast uppdaterat

2022-11-04