We characterize superconducting antenna-coupled hot-electron bolometers for direct detection of terahertz radiation operating at a temperature of 9.0 K. The estimated value of responsivity obtained from lumped-element theory is strongly different from the measured one. A numerical calculation of the detector responsivity is developed, using the Euler method, applied to the system of heat balance equations written in recurrent form. This distributed element model takes into account the effect of nonuniform heating of the detector along its length and provides results that are in better agreement with the experiment. At a signal frequency of 2.5 THz, the measured value of the optical detector noise equivalent power is 2.0×10 -13 W·Hz -0.5 . The value of the bolometer time constant is 35 ps. The corresponding energy resolution is about 3 aJ. This detector has a sensitivity similar to that of the state-of-the-art sub-millimeter detectors operating at accessible cryogenic temperatures, but with a response time several orders of magnitude shorter.  Index Terms-Radiation detectors, hot electron bolometer, frequency response.

Various applications in the field of terahertz technology are in urgent need of compact, widetunable solid-state continuous wave radiation sources with a moderate power. However, satisfactory solutions for the THz frequency range are scarce yet. Here we report on coherent radiation from a large planar array of Josephson junctions (JJs) in the frequency range between 0.1 and 0.3 THz. The external resonator providing the synchronization of JJ array is identified as a straight fragment of a single-strip-line containing the junctions themselves. We demonstrate a prototype of the quasioptical heterodyne receiver with the JJ array as a local oscillator and a hotelectron bolometer mixer.

We report on the sub-terahertz (THz) (129-450 GHz) photoresponse of devices based on single layer graphene and graphene nanoribbons with asymmetric source and drain (vanadium and gold) contacts. Vanadium forms a barrier at the graphene interface, while gold forms an Ohmic contact. We find that at low temperatures (77 K) the detector responsivity rises with the increasing frequency of the incident sub-THz radiation. We interpret this result as a manifestation of a plasmonic effect in the devices with the relatively long plasmonic wavelengths. Graphene nanoribbon devices display a similar pattern, albeit with a lower responsivity.

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An adequate water balance (hydration extent) is one of the basic factors of normal eye function, including its external shells: the cornea and the sclera. Adequate control of corneal and scleral hydration is very important for early diagnosis of a variety of eye diseases, stating indications for and contraindications against keratorefractive surgeries and the choice of contact lens correction solutions. THz systems of creating images in reflected beams are likely to become ideal instruments of noninvasive control of corneal and scleral hydration degrees. This paper reports on the results of a study involving transmittance and reflectance spectra for the cornea and the sclera of rabbit and human eyes, as well as those of the rabbit eye, in the frequency range of 0.13 to 0.32 THz. The dependence of the reflectance coefficient of these tissues on water mass percentage content was determined. The experiments were performed on three corneas, three rabbit scleras, two rabbit eyes, and three human scleras. The preliminary results demonstrate that the proposed technique, based on the use of a continuous THz radiation, may be utilized to create a device for noninvasive control of corneal and scleral hydration, which has clear potential of broad practical application.