Superconducting detectors and mixers for millimeter and submillimeter astrophysics

Žmuidzinas, J.; Richards, P. L.

doi:10.1109/jproc.2004.833670

Cited by 250 publications

(139 citation statements)

References 262 publications

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“…5,6 Currently, such devices have found successful applications in a variety of important fields including radio astronomy, quantum information, and integrated circuit testing, etc. [1][2][3] As NbN is a conventional low-T c superconductor with a superconducting critical temperature T c ∼ 15 K, NbN-based HEBs and SSPDs are usually working at a temperature of around 4 K, which requires the usage of liquid helium or multi-stage cryocoolers and hence puts restrictions on the practical device applications. In view of this, recently many efforts have been made to fabricate such devices using alternate materials with higher T c values in order to raise the operating temperature, lower the cryogenic cost, and thereby widen the application areas of the devices.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Fabrication of superconducting nanowires from ultrathin MgB2 films via focused ion beam milling

et al. 2015

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High quality superconducting nanowires were fabricated from ultrathin MgB2 films by a focused ion beam milling technique. The precursor MgB2 films in 10 nm thick were grown on MgO substrates by using a hybrid physical-chemical vapor deposition method. The nanowires, in widths of about 300-600 nm and lengths of 1 or 10 μm, showed high superconducting critical temperatures (Tc’s) above 34 K and narrow superconducting transition widths (ΔTc’s) of 1-3 K. The superconducting critical current density Jc of the nanowires was above 5 × 107 A/cm2 at 20 K. The high Tc, narrow ΔTc, and high Jc of the nanowires offered the possibility of making MgB2-based nano-devices such as hot-electron bolometers and superconducting nanowire single-photon detectors with high operating temperatures at 15-20 K.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Fabrication of superconducting nanowires from ultrathin MgB2 films via focused ion beam milling

et al. 2015

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“…Pyroelectric detectors 2,3 and bolometric/thermal 4-6 detection have a high sensitivity but are relatively slow, while graphene [7][8][9] and photon drag detectors 10 are fast but relatively insensitive. Doped germanium 11 and superconductor-insulator-superconductor (SIS) detectors 12 are very sensitive and have a quick response time; however, they are expensive and difficult to produce. Field-Effect Transistors (FETs) have also attracted attention for their THz detection capability, [13][14][15][16][17] although most of these are not based on the electronics industry staple, silicon.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Picosecond dynamics of a silicon donor based terahertz detector device

Bowyer

Villis

et al. 2014

Applied Physics Letters

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“…Superconducting NbN hot-electron bolometer (HEB) 1 mixers are widely used for high resolution terahertz radio astronomy. 2 Such mixers have superior performance over other types of mixers (e.g., SIS, Schottky diodes) 2 at frequencies higher than 1.2 THz. [3][4][5] A large RF bandwidth, a low noise temperature, and low LO power requirements determined the choice of NbN HEB mixers for the Herschel space observatory.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Low noise MgB2 terahertz hot-electron bolometer mixers

Bevilacqua

Cherednichenko

Drakinskiy

et al. 2012

Applied Physics Letters

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We report on low noise terahertz bolometric mixers made of MgB 2 superconducting thin films. For a 10-nm-thick MgB 2 film, the lowest mixer noise temperature was 600 K at 600 GHz. For 30 to 10-nm-thick films, the mixer gain bandwidth is an inverse function of the film thickness, reaching 3.4 GHz for the 10-nm film. As the critical temperature of the film decreases, the gain bandwidth also decreases, indicating the importance of high quality thin films for large gain bandwidth mixers. The results indicate the prospect of achieving a mixer gain bandwidth as large as 10-8 GHz for 3 to 5-nm-thick MgB 2 films. Superconducting NbN hot-electron bolometer (HEB) 1 mixers are widely used for high resolution terahertz radio astronomy. 2 Such mixers have superior performance over other types of mixers (e.g., SIS, Schottky diodes) 2 at frequencies higher than 1.2 THz. 3-5 A large RF bandwidth, a low noise temperature, and low LO power requirements determined the choice of NbN HEB mixers for the Herschel space observatory. 6,7 In contrast to SIS mixers, the useful IF bandwidth of NbN HEB mixers is practically limited to 3-5 GHz, 8 as the noise temperature rises drastically at higher intermediate frequencies. The reason for this is that the HEB mixer gain rolls off as the IF exceeds the mixer's 3 dB gain bandwidth (GBW). The GBW is determined by two consequent processes in the electron energy relaxation: the electron-phonon interaction and the phonon energy relaxation. The second process mainly occurs via acoustic phonon escape into the substrate. The electron-phonon interaction time is usually a function of the temperature. For HEB mixers, the relevant electron temperature is the critical temperature of the superconducting film, T c , to which the electrons are heated by a combination of the LO power and the dc bias current. In NbN thin films, the electron-phonon interaction time is approximately s e-ph % 12 ps at 10 K. 9,10 The phonon escape time is on the order of s esc % 40 ps for NbN films as thin as 3-4 nm. 8

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Superconducting detectors and mixers for millimeter and submillimeter astrophysics

Cited by 250 publications

References 262 publications

Fabrication of superconducting nanowires from ultrathin MgB2 films via focused ion beam milling

Fabrication of superconducting nanowires from ultrathin MgB2 films via focused ion beam milling

Picosecond dynamics of a silicon donor based terahertz detector device

Low noise MgB2 terahertz hot-electron bolometer mixers

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