Design of a 212 GHZ Lo Source Used in the Terahertz Radiometer Front-End

Abstract

Abstract-We introduce a 212 GHz LO source which could be used to drive sub-harmonic mixer in the radiometer front-end. It mainly includes a phase-locked dielectric resonator, a 71 GHz power source and a 212 GHz tripler. Actually, design of 212 GHz tripler is the key technology in the LO chain because the research on W band source is relatively mature. Based on our former research work, there is a great improvement in the design of 212 GHz tripler. At room temperature, the measured efficiency is more than 9% in 208 ∼ 218 GHz, and the maximum efficiency is about 14.5% at 215.5 GHz when being driven with 21.8 dBm of input power. Besides demand on the main technical specifications, the stability of each module is also extremely important since the front-end is designed to keep working for three months.