Low noise MgB₂ hot electron bolometer mixer operated at 5.3 THz and at 20 K

Noise temperature and beam pattern of an NbN hot electron bolometer mixer at 5.25 THz

Large bandwidth and low noise in a diffusion-cooled hot-electron bolometer mixer

Heterodyne measurements have been made at 533 GHz using a novel superconducting hot-electron bolometer in a waveguide mixer. The bolometer is a 0.3 mm long niobium microbridge with a superconducting transition temperature of 5 K. The short length ensures that electron diffusion dominates over electron-phonon interactions as the electron cooling mechanism, which should allow heterodyne detection...

Heterodyne detection at near-infrared wavelengths with a superconducting NbN hot-electron bolometer mixer.

We report on the development of a highly sensitive optical receiver for heterodyne IR spectroscopy at the communication wavelength of 1.5 μm (200 THz) by use of a superconducting hot-electron bolometer. The results are important for the resolution of narrow spectral molecular lines in the near-IR range for the study of astronomical objects, as well as for quantum optical tomography and fiber-op...

Improved superconducting hot-electron bolometer devices for the THz range

Improved and reproducible heterodyne mixing (noise temperatures of 950 K at 2.5 THz) has been realized with NbN based hot-electron superconducting devices with low contact resistances. A distributed temperature numerical model of the NbN bridge, based on a local electron and a phonon temperature, has been used to understand the physical conditions during the mixing process. We find that the mix...

MgB2 hot-electron bolometer mixers for THz heterodyne instruments

In this work we present experimental investigation of the MgB2 hot-electron bolometer (HEB) for low noise mixing at terahertz frequencies. A dedicated MgB2 thin film deposition system was designed and constructed based on Hybrid Physical-Chemical Deposition. Films as thin as 15nm have a superconducting transition at 35K, with a critical current density >107 A/cm2 (at 4.2K) in bridges as narrow ...