
Proceedings Paper
Sensitivity of a hot electron bolometer heterodyne receiver at 4.3 THzFormat | Member Price | Non-Member Price |
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Paper Abstract
We have studied the sensitivity of a superconducting NbN hot electron bolometer mixer integrated with a spiral antenna
at 4.3 THz. Using hot/cold blackbody loads and a beam splitter all in vacuum, we measured a double sideband receiver
noise temperature of 1300 K at the optimum local oscillator (LO) power of 330 nW, which is about 12 times the
quantum noise (hν/2kB). Our result indicates that there is no sign of degradation of the mixing process at the super-THz frequencies. Also, a measurement method is introduced where the hot/cold response of the receiver is recorded at
constant voltage bias of the mixer, while varying the LO power. We argue that this method provides an accurate
measurement of the receiver noise temperature, which is not influenced by the LO power fluctuations and the direct
detection effect. Moreover, our sensitivity data suggests that one can achieve a receiver noise temperature of 1420 K at
the frequency of [OI] line (4.7 THz), which is scaled from the sensitivity at 4.3 THz with frequency.
Paper Details
Date Published: 18 July 2008
PDF: 7 pages
Proc. SPIE 7020, Millimeter and Submillimeter Detectors and Instrumentation for Astronomy IV, 70201A (18 July 2008); doi: 10.1117/12.789387
Published in SPIE Proceedings Vol. 7020:
Millimeter and Submillimeter Detectors and Instrumentation for Astronomy IV
William D. Duncan; Wayne S. Holland; Stafford Withington; Jonas Zmuidzinas, Editor(s)
PDF: 7 pages
Proc. SPIE 7020, Millimeter and Submillimeter Detectors and Instrumentation for Astronomy IV, 70201A (18 July 2008); doi: 10.1117/12.789387
Show Author Affiliations
Pourya Khosropanah, SRON Netherlands Institute for Space Research (Netherlands)
Wouter M. Laauwen, SRON Netherlands Institute for Space Research (Netherlands)
Merlijn Hajenius, SRON Netherlands Institute for Space Research (Netherlands)
Kavli Institute of Nanoscience, Delft Univ. of Technology (Netherlands)
Wouter M. Laauwen, SRON Netherlands Institute for Space Research (Netherlands)
Merlijn Hajenius, SRON Netherlands Institute for Space Research (Netherlands)
Kavli Institute of Nanoscience, Delft Univ. of Technology (Netherlands)
Jian-Rong Gao, SRON Netherlands Institute for Space Research (Netherlands)
Kavli Institute of Nanoscience, Delft Univ. of Technology (Netherlands)
Teun M. Klapwijk, Kavli Institute of Nanoscience, Delft Univ. of Technology (Netherlands)
Kavli Institute of Nanoscience, Delft Univ. of Technology (Netherlands)
Teun M. Klapwijk, Kavli Institute of Nanoscience, Delft Univ. of Technology (Netherlands)
Published in SPIE Proceedings Vol. 7020:
Millimeter and Submillimeter Detectors and Instrumentation for Astronomy IV
William D. Duncan; Wayne S. Holland; Stafford Withington; Jonas Zmuidzinas, Editor(s)
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