Terahertz photonic mixers as local oscillators for hot electron bolometer and superconductor-insulator-superconductor astronomical receivers

Mayorga, Iván Cámara; Pradas, P. Muñoz; Michael, E. A.; Mikulics, M.; Schmitz, A.; Wal, P. van der; Kaseman, C.; Güsten, R.; Jacobs, K.; Marso, Michel; Lüth, H.; Kordoš, P.

doi:10.1063/1.2336486

Cited by 27 publications

(3 citation statements)

References 13 publications

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“…With the rapid advancement of QCLs, they will play a critical role in the future heterodyne terahertz detection system. Photomixers, which use two lasers beams with a terahertz beat frequency to modulate the carrier concentration in an antenna-coupled photoconductor, have also been used to pump HEB mixers and SIS mixers [121][122][123]. For example, a photomixer with an integrated dual-dipole antenna ( gure 11(a)) has been used to pump SIS mixers at 1.05 THz in the heterodyne receiver of the APEX telescope.…”

Section: Local Oscillatorsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Heterodyne terahertz detection through electronic and optoelectronic mixers

Lin

Jarrahi

2020

Rep. Prog. Phys.

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The high sensitivity detection of terahertz radiation is crucial for many chemical sensing, biomedical imaging, security screening, nondestructive quality control, high-data-rate communication, atmospheric, and astrophysics sensing applications. Among various terahertz detection techniques, heterodyne detection is of great interest for applications that require high spectral resolution. Heterodyne detection involves mixing the received terahertz radiation with a reference terahertz signal provided by a local oscillator and then down-converting it to an intermediate frequency for detection. The frequency of the intermediate frequency signal is usually chosen to be in the radio frequency regime, so that it can be accurately analyzed by well-developed radio frequency electronics, including ampli ers, lters, and spectrometers, for further processing. Heterodyne terahertz detection offers two major advantages over direct terahertz detection. First, the detected terahertz radiation is effectively enhanced by the reference local oscillator signal through the mixing process, thereby enabling the detection of very weak terahertz signals. Second, the detected noise power is effectively reduced by limiting the detected spectral bandwidth to the bandwidth of the intermediate frequency electronics. In this article, we present a broad overview of various types of heterodyne terahertz receivers, which utilize different electronic and optoelectronic techniques to down-convert the received terahertz signal to a radio frequency signal. We describe how the inherent nonlinearity of a Schottky diode, superconductor-insulator-superconductor junction, hot electron bolometer, and eld-effect transistor can be utilized to mix the received terahertz radiation with a reference local oscillator signal from a gas laser, quantum cascade laser, photomixer, Gunn diode, IMPATT diode, and frequency multiplier and then down-convert it to a radio frequency signal. The down-converted radio frequency signal can be subsequently detected and analyzed by various backend spectrometers, including lter bank, acousto-optical, autocorrelator, fast Fourier transform, and chirp transform spectrometers. We also discuss how a photomixer pumped by a heterodyning optical beam can be used to down-convert the received terahertz radiation to a radio frequency signal with far fewer bandwidth constraints than conventional techniques. The advantages and disadvantages of different heterodyne receivers in terms of their noise performance, operation frequency, operation bandwidth, and operation temperature are discussed in detail.

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Section: Local Oscillatorsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Heterodyne terahertz detection through electronic and optoelectronic mixers

Lin

Jarrahi

2020

Rep. Prog. Phys.

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“…The edge transition superconductive bolometers have been investigated in various studies (Skchez et al, 1997;Fardmanesh, 2004;Cámara Mayorgaa et al, 2006). Photo-mixing devices needed for hot electron bolometers, which have been verified with a superconductor-insulator-superconductor (SIS) mixer, have tremendous potential for various applications such as radio astronomy, terahertz imaging, high-resolution www.intechopen.com spectroscopy, medicine, security, and defense (Cámara Mayorgaa et al, 2006). Moreover, it has been reported that the design, fabrication and performance of a high temperature GdBa 2 Cu 3 0 7-x , superconductor bolometer positioned on a thick silicon nitride membrane.…”

Section: Bolometer Applications Of High Temperature Superconductorsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Some Contemporary and Prospective Applications of High Temperature Superconductors

Özdemir¹,

Çataltepe²,

Onbaşlı³

2011

Applications of High-Tc Superconductivity

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“…Another reason for the use of this type of substrate is that no power is lost in surface modes [3]. The substrate with the photomixer device is usually glued to the substrate lens whose dielectric constant is chosen to be similar to that of the photomixer substrate (which is usually a III-V compound semiconductor [4,5]). This fact avoids reflection in the interface between both media.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Ultrawideband Antenna Excited by a Photomixer for Terahertz Band

Andres-Garcia

García-Muñoz²,

Segovia-Vargas³

et al. 2011

PIER

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Abstract-An end-fire linear tapered slot antenna is presented in the terahertz band. The operation frequency goes from 0.6 THz to 2 THz, with symmetric radiation patterns from 1 THz to 1.7 THz, and gains up to 15 dB. The gaussicity of the beam is over 80% in the whole operation band and an efficiency at 1 THz of 85%. This antenna gives enough directivity avoiding the use of a typical substrate lens, which introduce 30% of losses. This new design is a good candidate for new applications in the THz range in Radioastronomy and Imaging.

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Terahertz photonic mixers as local oscillators for hot electron bolometer and superconductor-insulator-superconductor astronomical receivers

Cited by 27 publications

References 13 publications

Heterodyne terahertz detection through electronic and optoelectronic mixers

Heterodyne terahertz detection through electronic and optoelectronic mixers

Some Contemporary and Prospective Applications of High Temperature Superconductors

Ultrawideband Antenna Excited by a Photomixer for Terahertz Band

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