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We present Josephson junctions fabricated from high transition temperature superconductor YBa 2 Cu 3 O 7 coupled to spiral THz antennas. The fabrication process involves creating a Josephson junction at the center of a superconducting bridge embedded into a THz spiral antenna using irradiation from a focused helium ion beam. For low doses of helium irradiation, the junctions have metallic barriers and operate at temperatures as high as 67 K. For higher doses of irradiation, insulator barriers are created. These devices have higher resistance but require cooling to lower temperatures (~10 K) due to smaller critical currents. Through optimization of the dose and by trimming the width of the junctions, we have created high resistance devices to improve the impedance match to a spiral antenna. Under 90-GHz radiation, we observe up to 17 Shapiro steps in the I-V curve out to approximately 3 mV at a temperature of 10 K.

Hot-electron bolometers (HEBs) made with MgB 2 have proven to have a large intermediate frequency and have shown potential for a low noise into the terahertz range. Although practical results from these mixers have been achieved fairly quickly, effort is still needed to realize an MgB 2 HEB with improved sensitivity to compete with state-of-the-art mixers. Here, we present the results of our mixer work to achieve MgB 2 HEBs based on hybrid physical chemical vapor deposition grown films, with improved sensitivity and higher temperature operation. A new fabrication process is developed which utilizes even thinner films (

The exploration of superconductivity in ultrathin films has attracted much attention in the past decades for device applications such as hot electron bolometers (HEBs) and superconducting nanowire single photon detectors (SNSPDs). With a superconducting critical temperature ( Tc ) of 39 K, which is far above that of other conventional Bardeen-Cooper-Schrieffer (BCS) superconductors, and its faster thermal response, ultrathin MgB 2 films present a promising alternative for the use in HEBs and SSNPDs. In this paper, we present the results on ultrathin MgB2 films grown by hybrid physical–chemical vapor deposition. The films less than 10 nm are difficult to achieve directly because of weak grain connectivity due to incomplete film coverage. To achieve high-quality films less than 10-nm Ar ion milling of thicker films was employed. The ultrathin films fabricated by ion milling show superior quality over as-grown films. The surface roughness of the films was significantly improved and the suppression of Tc from the bulk value is much slower in milled films than in as-grown films. The critical current density of the 5-nm milled film is 1 × 107 A·cm-2 at 4 K, which is the same as that of the 10-nm as-grown film.

This will be an overview of our work on the development of hot-electron bolometers (HEB) and Josephson junctions (JJ) using thin films of high-TC MgB2 superconductor for applications as heterodyne detectors in the far-IR and mid-IR spectral ranges. Besides the high operating temperature (15–20 K), the MgB2 material provides a large intermediate frequency (IF) bandwidth $\sim 6$-7 GHz for HEB mixers and record high operating frequency $\sim 2$ THz for JJ mixers.

The field of THz mixers for astrophysics is dominated by superconducting hot-electron bolometers (HEBs), whereas Schottky-diode mixers have been the only devices suitable for planetary instruments. The Schottky mixers operate at ambient temperature, which is a great advantage for planetary applications, but are much less sensitive than the state-of-the art HEBs and require a 103 higher local oscillator (LO) power. Here, we have demonstrated a novel THz mixer which offers the best of both worlds: it operates at $\sim60\mathrm{K}$ (accessible by passive cooling on space), requires $\sim {\mu} \mathrm{W}$ LO power, and has a potential to be as sensitive as the HEB mixer.

We have fabricated spiral THz antennas containing embedded high $\mathrm{T}_{\mathrm{C}}\mathrm{YBa}_{2}\mathrm{Cu}_{3}\mathrm{O}_{7}$ (YBCO) focused helium ion beam Josephson junctions (JJ) for characterization of their high frequency characteristics. The values of the resistance and critical current of the junctions are controlled through the irradiation dose and geometry of the junction. We observe several orders of Shapiro steps in the current voltage characteristics of the device when irradiated with 0.6 THz and a single step when irradiated at 2.52 THz.

A fast, voltage-tunable terahertz mixer based on the intersubband transition of a high-mobility 2-dimensional electron gas (2DEG) has been fabricated from a single 40 nm GaAs-AlGaAs square quantum well heterostructure. The device is called a Tunable Antenna-Coupled Intersubband Terahertz (TACIT) mixer, and shows tunability of the detection frequency from 2.52 THz to 3.11 THz with small (< 1 V) top gate and back gate voltage biases. Mixing at 2.52 THz has been observed at 60 K with a -3dB intermediate frequency (IF) bandwidth exceeding 6 GHz., 20 pages; 9 figures; the manuscript has been submitted for the Applied Physics Letters. This submission includes supplementary material

Hot-Electron Bolometer (HEB) mixers have proven to be the best tool for high-resolution spectroscopy at the Terahertz frequencies. However, the current state of the art NbN mixers suffer from a small intermediate frequency (IF) bandwidth as well as a low operating temperature. MgB 2 is a promising material for HEB mixer technology in view of its high critical temperature and fast thermal relaxation allowing for a large IF bandwidth. In this work, we have fabricated and characterized thin-film (~15 nm) MgB 2 -based spiral antenna-coupled HEB mixers on SiC substrate. We achieved the IF bandwidth greater than 8 GHz at 25 K and the device noise temperature

Hot-electron bolometer mixers employing thin films of conventional superconducting materials have already been successfully fabricated in the past. Magnesium diboride (MgB2) is a promising alternative to conventional superconductors, and we report the fabrication and study of ultrathin MgB2 films of down to 10 nm deposited by hybrid physical–chemical vapor deposition technique. The MgB2 films showed $T_c$ of above 36 K, while residual resistivities of up to 26 $\mu\Omega\cdot\mbox{cm} $ were achieved. Critical currents of more than $6\times 10^6\ \mbox{A}\cdot\mbox{cm}^{-2} $ at 20 K have been measured for the films with thicknesses ranging from 10 to 100 nm. Fishtail structures have been observed in the magnetic field dependence of the critical current density for the thinnest of these films, indicating the presence of defects, which act as vortex pinning centers. From the magnetic field dependence, an average distance between adjacent pinning centers of 35 nm has been obtained for the thinnest films.

We report on optically sensitive 15 nm thick, 100 nm wide MgB 2 nanowires in the operating-temperature range 4–11 K.

We report on noise and thermal conductance measurements taken in order to determine an upper bound on the performance of graphene as a terahertz photon detector. The main mechanism for sensitive terahertz detection in graphene is bolometric heating of the electron system. To study the properties of a device using this mechanism to detect terahertz photons, we perform Johnson noise thermometry measurements on graphene samples. These measurements probe the electron-phonon behavior of graphene on silicon dioxide at low temperatures. Because the electron-phonon coupling is weak in graphene, superconducting contacts with large gap are used to confine the hot electrons and prevent their out-diffusion. We use niobium nitride leads with a $T_\mathrm{c}\approx 10$ K to contact the graphene. We find these leads make good ohmic contact with very low contact resistance. Our measurements find an electron-phonon thermal conductance that depends quadratically on temperature above 4 K and is compatible with single terahertz photon detection., Comment: 6 Pages, 4 Figures, Conference Proceedings from LTD-15

We present the results on design, fabrication, and characterization of a hot-electron bolometer based on low-mobility 2-D electron gas (2-DEG) in an AlGaN/GaN heterostructure. The characterization of our hot-electron bolometers demonstrates that the following can be achieved simultaneously: 1) strong coupling to incident THz radiation due to strong Drude absorption; 2) significant THz heating of 2-DEG due to the small value of the electron heat capacity; and 3) high responsivity due to the strong temperature dependence of 2-DEG resistance. Low contact resistance achieved in our devices ensures that THz radiation couples primarily to the 2-DEG. Due to a small electron momentum relaxation time, the real part of the 2-DEG sensor impedance is ~50-100 Ω, which provides good impedance matching between sensors and antennas. The room temperature responsivity of our devices reaches ~0.04 A/W at 2.55 THz along with a noise equivalent power of ~5 nW/Hz1/2.

We report on 5 nm thick, 100 nm wide MgB 2 nanowires with single-photon sensitivity at 635 nm wavelength in the operating-temperature range 3–10 K.

We report on the growth of high quality MgB2 thin films on silicon and silicon-on-insulator substrates by hybrid physical chemical vapor deposition. A boron buffer layer was deposited on all sides of the Si substrate to prevent the reaction of Mg vapor and Si. Ar ion milling at a low angle of 1° was used to reduce the roughness of the boron buffer layer before the MgB2 growth. An Ar ion milling at low angle of 1° was also applied to the MgB2 surface to reduce its roughness. The resultant MgB2 films showed excellent superconducting properties and a smooth surface. The process produces thin MgB2 films suitable for waveguide-based superconducting hot electron bolometers and other MgB2-based electronic devices.

We are presenting experimental results on the electrical noise in small titanium hot-electron nanobolometers with the critical temperature above 300 mK. The noise data demonstrate good agreement with the conventional bolometer theory prediction. The noise is dominated by the thermal energy fluctuations (phonon noise) when the operating temperature is set just a few mK below the superconducting transition. The corresponding noise equivalent power (NEP) is about 3 times 10-18 W/Hz1/2 for the smallest measured device. The relative NEP's for the two devices measured scale roughly as the square root of the device volume as one would expect from the theory. Therefore an additional factor of 2-3 reduction of NEP may be feasible if the length and width of our device are further reduced. The demonstrated combination of the low NEP and the relatively high operating temperature is attractive for submillimeter low-background applications.

Sequentially connected superconducting nanowires, such as nanopatterned meanders, are very promising candidates for single-photon detectors capable to resolve a number of photons in the pulse. In such devices, the photon number-resolved (PNR) mode is possible due to independent detection of electromagnetic quanta by different regions of the meander. Every photon creates a resistive region in the superconductive meander and the total resistance is expected to be proportional to the number of photons absorbed. While the PNR mode can be realized with available single-photon detectors based on NbN nanowires, up to now it has not been observed experimentally. Here we show that the PNR mode in NbN requires the proper impedance matching between readout circuitry and nanowire-based detector. We discuss possible design of the readout circuitry for PNR detection. Results of modeling show that a high impedance amplifier placed in close proximity to the superconducting nanostructure can provide effective readout for the NbN nanowire-based detector operating in PNR mode.

We are developing hot-electron superconducting transition-edge sensors (TES) capable of counting THz photons and operating at . We fabricated superconducting Ti nanosensors with Nb contacts with a volume of on planar Si substrates and have measured the thermal conductance in the material, G=4times10-3 W/K at 0.3 K, caused predominantly by the weak electron-phonon coupling. The corresponding phonon-noise NEP=3times10-19 W/Hz1/2 . Detection of single optical photons (1550 nm and 670 nm wavelength) has been demonstrated for larger devices and yielded the thermal time constants of 30 mus at 145 mK and of 25 mus at 190 mK. This hot-electron direct detector (HEDD) is expected to have a small enough energy fluctuation noise for detecting individual photons with v>THz where NEP~3times10-20 W/Hz1/2 is needed for spectroscopy in space.

We analyze the pathways for achieving the THz hot-electron bolometer (HEB) mixers using high-T C superconductors. Requirements to the material in order to obtain large (up to 10 GHz) intermediate frequency bandwidth as well as recent results on MgB 2 HEB mixer devices are discussed. Based on a thermal model of the energy relaxation in a thin film, we explain the difference between the mixing behaviors in previously studied HEB materials. We also introduce the concept of the HEB mixer based on the low electron density MBE-grown quasi-2DEG LaCuO/LaSrCuO superconductors with tunable critical temperature.

We fabricated and characterized the optical response of MgB 2 nanowires with critical temperature T C = 33 K. The devices showed optical response at 4 K and sub-nanosecond relaxation time. The detectors responded to the simultaneous absorption of three photons, but not to single photons.

We discuss an implementation of a hot-electron transition-edge sensor (TES) capable of counting THz photons. The main need for such a THz calorimeter is spectroscopy on future space telescopes with a background limited NEP/spl sim/10/sup -20/ W/Hz/sup 1/2/. The micromachined bolometers will unlikely reach such sensitivity at temperatures above 10 mK. The hot-electron TES with sufficient sensitivity will still have a time constant /spl sim/0.1-1.0 ms that is too short for integrating a flux of THz background photons arriving at a rate of

Novel approach to detection of low-energy (submillimeter and infrared) photons is based on implementation of the electron heating in superconducting nanostructures with small number of quasiparticles. In a hot-electron sensor, the incoming quanta generate nonequilibrium quasiparticles, which affect either the resistivity (transition-edge sensor) or the inductance (kinetic-inductance sensor operating in the superconducting state). The sensitivity of this sensor is limited by equilibrium fluctuations of the number of quasiparticle excitations, and a small number of quasiparticles is the key issue for high performance. The relaxation time in superconducting structures can be controlled over the range from 10 ps (outdiffusion of quasiparticles) to 0.1 s (phonon cooling). Therefore, hot-electron sensors can be employed as relatively slow ultra-sensitive detectors or fast photon counters, depending on a dominant cooling mechanism. The counter can resolve photons of submillimeter and terahertz ranges with the counting rate of 10 11 count/s . Hot-electron nanosensors are expected to deliver the unique performance: the noise equivalent power of 10 −20 W /√ Hz and the energy resolution of 10 −21 – 10 −23 J .

Relaxation, noise, and spectral properties of micron-size hot-electron sensors made from thin Ti film are studied. Due to the small heat capacity of electrons, the devices are sensitive to single quanta of submm radiation. The sensors can be used for both hot-electron direct detectors (HEDD) and hot-electron photon-counters (HEPC) depending whether electron-phonon relaxation or electron outdiffusion is a dominating cooling mechanism. In an HEDD, the diffusion is blocked by Andreev contacts and the cooling rate is determined by the electron-phonon relaxation. The electron-phonon time in disordered films is long (/spl tau//sub e-ph//spl ap/0.16/spl times/T/sup -4/ /spl mu/s) providing an NEP/spl ap/10/sup -19/ W//spl radic/Hz at 0.3 K and NEP/spl ap/10/sup -20/ W//spl radic/Hz at 0.1 K. The output noise in micron-size bridges follows the predictions of the hot-electron model. In the diffusion mode, the relaxation time of 3 ns has been measured in a 3 /spl mu/m-long device. Smaller size HEPC's would be able to operate with the spectral resolution of 300 GHz at 0.3 K and 100 GHz at 0.1 K and with the photon counting rate in the GHz range. The spectral response of a prototype antenna-coupled Nb HEDD device has been measured and shown to be flat over the range 250-900 GHz.

Terahertz high-resolution spectroscopy of interstellar molecular clouds greatly relies on hot-electron superconducting bolometric (HEB) mixers. Current state-of-the-art receivers use mixer devices made from ultrathin (~ 3-5 nm) films of NbN with critical temperature ~ 9-11 K. Such mixers have been deployed on a number of groundbased, suborbital, and orbital platforms including the HIFI instrument on the Hershel Space Observatory. Despite its good sensitivity and well-established fabrication process, the NbN HEB mixer suffers from the narrow intermediate frequency (IF) bandwidth ~ 2-3 GHz and is limited to operation at liquid Helium temperature. As the heterodyne receivers are now trending towards “high THz” frequencies, the need in a larger IF bandwidth becomes more pressing since the same velocity resolution for a Doppler shifted line at 5 THz requires a 5-times greater IF bandwidth than at 1 THz. Our work is focusing on the realization of practical HEB mixers using ultrathin (10-20 nm) MgB 2 films. They are prepared using a Hybrid Physical-Chemical Vapor Deposition (HPCVD) process yielding ultrathin films with critical temperature ~ 37-39 K. The expectation is that the combination of small thickness, high acoustic phonon transparency at the interface with the substrate, and very short electron-phonon relaxation time may lead to IF bandwidth ~ 10 GHz or even higher. SiC continues to be the most favorable substrate for MgB 2 growth and as a result, a study has been conducted on the transparency of SiC at THz frequencies. FTIR measurements show that semi-insulating SiC substrates are at least as transparent as Si up to 2.5 THz. Currently films are passivated using a thin (10 nm) SiO2 layer which is deposited ex-situ via RF magnetron sputtering. Micron-sized spiral antenna-coupled HEB mixers have been fabricated using MgB2 films as thin as 10 nm. Fabrication was done using contact UV lithography and Ar Ion milling, with E-beam evaporated Au films deposited for the antenna. Measurements have been carried out on these devices in the DC, Microwave, and THz regimes. The devices are capable of mixing signals above 20 K indicating that operation may be possible using a cryogen-free cooling system. We will report the results of all measurements taken to indicate the local oscillator power requirements and the IF bandwidth of MgB 2 HEB mixers.

Noise Equivalent Power and time constant of a submillimeter wave Hot-Electron Bolometer (HEB) made from monolayer graphene are analyzed using the lowest electron-phonon thermal conductance data reported to date. Frequency-domain multiplexed Johnson Noise Thermometry (JNT) is used for the detector readout. Planar microantennas or waveguides can provide efficient coupling of the graphene microdevice to radiation. The results show that the graphene HEB detector can be radiation background limited at very low level corresponding to the photon noise on a space telescope with cryogenically cooled mirror. Beside the high sensitivity, absence of a hard power saturation limit, higher operating temperature, and the ability to read 1000s of elements with a single broadband amplifier will be the advantages of such a detector., 7 page, 1 figure, 15th International Workshop on Low Temperature Detectors (Pasadena, California, June 24-28, 2013)

The sensitivity of a THz hot-electron nanobolometer (nano-HEB) made from a normal metal is analyzed. Johnson Noise Thermometry (JNT) is employed as a readout technique. In contrast to its superconducting TES counterpart, the normal-metal nano-HEB can operate at any cryogenic temperature depending on the required radiation background limited Noise Equivalent Power (NEP). It does not require bias lines; 100s of nano-HEBs can be read by a single low-noise X-band amplifier via a filter bank channelizer. The modeling predicts that even with the sensitivity penalty due to the amplifier noise, an NEP ~ 10$^{-20}$ - 10$^{-19}$ W/Hz$^{1/2}$ can be expected at 50-100 mK in 10-20 nm thin titanium (Ti) normal metal HEBs with niobium (Nb) contacts. This NEP is fairly constant over a range of readout frequencies ~ 10 GHz. Although materials with weaker electron-phonon coupling (bismuth, graphene) do not improve the minimum achievable NEP, they can be considered if a larger than 10 GHz readout bandwidth is required., Comment: 5 pages, 5 figures, presented at the 25th International Symposium on Space Terahertz Technology (Moscow, Russia, 27-30 April 2014)

In this paper we give a detailed analysis of the expected sensitivity and operating conditions in the power detection mode of a hot-electron bolometer (HEB) made from a few {\mu}m$^2$ of monolayer graphene (MLG) flake which can be embedded into either a planar antenna or waveguide circuit via NbN (or NbTiN) superconducting contacts with critical temperature ~ 14 K. Recent data on the strength of the electron-phonon coupling are used in the present analysis and the contribution of the readout noise to the Noise Equivalent Power (NEP) is explicitly computed. The readout scheme utilizes Johnson Noise Thermometry (JNT) allowing for Frequency-Domain Multiplexing (FDM) using narrowband filter coupling of the HEBs. In general, the filter bandwidth and the summing amplifier noise have a significant effect on the overall system sensitivity. The analysis shows that the readout contribution can be reduced to that of the bolometer phonon noise if the detector device is operated at 0.05 K and the JNT signal is read at about 10 GHz where the Johnson noise emitted in equilibrium is substantially reduced. Beside the high sensitivity (NEP < 10$^{-20}$ W/Hz$^{1/2}$, this bolometer does not have any hard saturation limit and thus can be used for far-IR sky imaging with arbitrary contrast. By changing the operating temperature of the bolometer the sensitivity can be fine tuned to accommodate the background photon flux in a particular application. By using a broadband low-noise kinetic inductance parametric amplifier, ~100s of graphene HEBs can be read simultaneously without saturation of the system output., Comment: 9 pages. 6 figure, SPIE Astronomical Telescopes + Instrumentation, Montr\'eal, Quebec, Canada, 22-27 June, 2014

We report on microwave measurements of superconducting aluminum hot-electron bolometers (Al HEBs). Diffusion-cooled Al HEB mixers are good candidates for space-borne applications in the Terahertz frequency range since they are predicted to have small local oscillator (LO) power requirements, intermediate frequency (IF) bandwidths /spl gsim/10 GHz, and a noise temperature lower than that of Nb and NbN HEB mixers. Mixer measurements were made at an LO frequency /spl sim/30 GHz, with an IF in the range 0.1 to 7.3 GHz. For T

Superconducting hot-electron bolometer (HEB) mixers are promising heterodyne detectors for THz frequencies. HEB mixers operating at 4 K or below offer the possibility of near-quantum-limited performance without an upper frequency limit imposed by the superconducting energy gap. High temperature superconductor HEB mixers offer very sensitive, low power heterodyne detectors operating at temperatures approaching 90 K for applications requiring closed-cycle refrigeration. We report on recent progress in fabricating and characterizing high-T/sub c/ mixers based on ultra-thin (10-20 nm) YBa/sub 2/Cu/sub 3/O/sub 7-/spl delta// films patterned to submicrometer dimensions (0.1-1 /spl mu/m) and incorporated into 1-3 THz planar mixer circuits.

We demonstrate that a potential distinction in ultimate performance of phonon-cooled and diffusion-cooled HEB mixers is not due to the cooling mechanisms but rather due to the different properties of available superconductors. The only available material for a phonon-cooled mixer with sufficiently large IF bandwidth (/spl sim/4 GHz) is NbN, whereas a variety of clean materials (e.g., Nb, NbC, Al) are suitable for a diffusion-cooled mixer. For a readily achievable device length of 0.1 /spl mu/m for example, the diffusion-cooled IF bandwidth can be /spl ges/10 GHz. The requirement of low local oscillator (LO) power can also be more easily met in diffusion-cooled devices by selection of a material with lower critical temperature and low density of electron states. In contrast, the parameters in the NbN-based mixer cannot be widely varied because of the high resistivity and high transition temperature of the material and the necessity of using ultrathin films. Given the limited availability of LO power from compact solid-state sources at frequencies above 1 THz a diffusion-cooled mixer based on aluminum is a very attractive choice for low-background radioastronomy applications.

We report a systematic, comprehensive set of measurements on the dynamics and noise processes in diffusion and phonon-cooled superconducting hot-electron bolometer mixers which will serve as ultralow noise detectors in THz heterodyne receivers. The conversion efficiency and output noise of devices of varying lengths were measured with radio frequency between 8 and 40 GHz. The devices studied consist of 100-A-thin film Nb bridges connected to thick (1000 A), high conductivity normal metal (Au) leads. The lengths of the devices studied range from 0.08 to 3 μm. For devices longer than the electron–phonon interaction length Le–ph≡Dτe–ph, with D the diffusion constant and τe–ph−1 the electron–phonon interaction rate, the hot electrons are cooled dominantly by the electron–phonon interaction, which in Nb is too slow for practical applications. If the device length is less than πLe–ph(≈1 μm at 4.2 K), then out diffusion of heat into the high conductivity leads dominates the cooling process. In this limit, the in...

The impedance of the supconducting hot-electron bolometer mixer was measured in the range 0.2-4 GHz. A special technique relying on determination of S21 transmission parameter of the device was used. Many advantages of the techinque (wide frequency range, in sity calibration, low tes power, accuracy) are demonstrated. The estimate of the mixer bandwidth from the impedance data using the mixer theory is in good agreement with the results ofthe direct bandwidth measurements.

A complex study of the electron-phonon interaction in thin NbC films with electron mean free path $l=2--13\mathrm{nm}$ gives strong evidence that electron scattering is significantly modified due to the interference between electron-phonon and elastic electron scattering from impurities. The interference ${T}^{2}$ term, which is proportional to the residual resistivity, dominates over the Bloch-Gr\"uneisen contribution to resistivity at low temperatures up to 60 K. The electron energy relaxation rate is directly measured via the relaxation of hot electrons heated by modulated electromagnetic radiation. In the temperature range 1.5--10 K the relaxation rate shows a weak dependence on the electron mean free path and strong temperature dependence $\ensuremath{\sim}{T}^{n},$ with the exponent $n=2.5--3.$ This behavior is explained well by the theory of the electron-phonon-impurity interference taking into account the electron coupling with transverse phonons determined from the resistivity data.

We report on the development of a quasioptical Nb hot-electron bolometer mixer for a 2.5 THz heterodyne receiver. The devices are fabricated from a 12 nm thick Nb film, and have a 0.30 /spl mu/m/spl times/0.15 /spl mu/m in-plane size, thus exploiting diffusion as the electron cooling mechanism. The rf coupling was provided by a twin-slot planar antenna on an elliptical Si lens. A specially designed 2.5 THz system, using a CO/sub 2/-pumped FIR laser as local oscillator (LO), with rf hot/cold loads enclosed in vacuum to avoid atmospheric absorption, was used in the experiment. The experimentally measured double sideband (DSB) noise temperature of the receiver was as low as /spl les/3000 K, with an estimated mixer noise temperature of /spl ap/750 K. These results demonstrate the operation of the diffusion-cooled bolometer mixer above 2 THz.

Superconducting hot-electron bolometers (HEB) represent a promising candidate for heterodyne mixing at frequencies exceeding 1 THz. Nb HEB mixers offer performance competitive with tunnel junctions without the frequency limit imposed by the superconducting energy gap. Although the performance of YBa/sub 2/Cu/sub 3/O/sub 7-/spl delta// HEB mixers is not projected to be superior to that of Nb devices, which operate at low temperatures, they introduce the possibility of sensitive, low power heterodyne detectors operating at temperatures approaching 90 K for applications requiring portability and closed-cycle refrigeration. We report on the fabrication and characterization, both DC and RF, of high-T/sub c/ mixers based on ultra-thin (/spl les/20 nm) YBa/sub 2/Cu/sub 3/O/sub 7-/spl delta// films patterned to micrometer dimensions and incorporated into 2.5 THz planar mixer circuits.

We present studies of the input and output noise of diffusion cooled hot-electron bolometer mixers. By simultaneously measuring the gain and noise (with a 14 GHz LO) as a function of intermediate frequency for a 0.16 /spl mu/m diffusion cooled Nb device, we show that the noise bandwidth (4 GHz) is larger than the gain bandwidth (2.4 GHz). The output noise is 55 K, and the mixer noise is very low, 340 K DSB. This shows that diffusion cooled devices have low noise over a broad enough intermediate frequency band for practical applications in THz receivers.

The prospects of a YBa2Cu3O7(delta)(YBCO) hot-electron bolometer (HEB) mixer for a THz heterodyne receiver is discussed. The modeled device is a submicron bridge made from a 10 nm thick film on a high thermal conductance substrate.

We report on a superconducting hot electron bolometer coupled to radiation via a broadband antenna. The bolometer, a structured NbN film, was patterned on a thin dielectric membrane between terminals of a gold slotline antenna. We investigated the response to submillimeter radiation (wave-lengths ∼ 0.1 mm to 0.7 mm) in the fundamental Gaussian mode. We found that the directivity of the antenna was constant within a factor of 2.5 through the whole experimental range. The noise equivalent power of the bolometer at 119 µm was ∼ 3 · 10−13 W/Hz1/2; a time constant of ∼ 160 ps was estimated.

The potential applications for high frequency operation of the Josephson effect in MgB2 include THz mixers, direct detectors, and digital circuits. Here we report on MgB2 weak links which exhibit the Josephson behavior up to almost 2 THz and using them for low-noise heterodyne detection of THz radiation. The devices are made from epitaxial film grown in the c-axis direction by the hybrid physical-chemical vapor deposition method. The current in the junctions travels parallel to the surface of the film, thus making possible a large contribution of the quasi-two-dimensional σ-gap in transport across the weak link. These devices are connected to a planar spiral antenna with a dielectric substrate lens to facilitate coupling to free-space radiation for use as a detector. The IcRn product of the junction is 5.25 mV, giving confirmation of a large gap parameter. The sensitivity of the mixer was measured from 0.6 THz to 1.9 THz. At a bath temperature of over 20 K, a mixer noise temperature less than 2000 K (DSB)...

In this letter, we report on the structural and transport measurements of ultrathin MgB2 films grown by hybrid physical-chemical vapor deposition followed by low incident angle Ar ion milling. The ultrathin films as thin as 1.8 nm, or 6 unit cells, exhibit excellent superconducting properties such as high critical temperature (Tc) and high critical current density (Jc). The results show the great potential of these ultrathin films for superconducting devices and present a possibility to explore superconductivity in MgB2 at the 2D limit.

Transitions of thin structured YBaCuO films from superconducting (S) to normal (N) state and back induced by a supercritical current pulse has been studied. A subnanosecond stage in the film resistance dynamic has been observed. A more gradual (nanosecond) ramp in the time dependence of the resistance follows the fast stage. The fraction of the film resistance which is attained during the fast S-N stage rises with the current amplitude. Subnanosecond N-S switching is more pronounced for smaller amplitudes of driving current and for shorter pulses. The phenomena observed are viewed within the framework of an electron heating model. The expected switching time and repetition rate of an optimized current controlling device are estimated to be 1-2 ps and 80 GHz respectively. >

Hot electron superconductor mixer devices made of thin NbN films on SiO/sub 2/-Si/sub 3/N/sub 4/-Si membrane have been fabricated for 300-350 GHz operation. The device consists of 5-10 parallel strips each 5 /spl mu/m long by 1 /spl mu/m wide which are coupled to a tapered slot-line antenna. The I-V characteristics and position of optimum bias point were studied in the temperature range 4.5-8 K. The performance of the mixer at higher temperatures is closer to that predicted by theory for uniform electron heating. The intermediate frequency bandwidth versus bias has also been investigated. At the operating temperature 4.2 K a bandwidth as wide as 0.8 GHz has been measured for a mixer made of 6 nm thick film. The bandwidth tends to increase with operating temperature. The performance of the NbN mixer is expected to be better for higher frequencies where the absorption of radiation should be more uniform. >