A Microwave Reflection Readout Scheme for Hot Electron Bolometric Direct Detector

Author

Shurakov, Alexander ; Tong, Cheuk-yu Edward ; Grimes, Paul ; Blundell, Raymond ; Golt´sman, Gregory

Author_Institution

Moscow State Pedagogical Univ., Moscow, Russia

Volume

5

Issue

1

fYear

2015

fDate

Jan. 2015

Firstpage

81

Lastpage

84

Abstract

In this paper, we propose and present data from a fast THz detector based on the repurpose of hot electron bolometer mixers (HEB) fabricated from superconducting NbN thin film. This detector is essentially a traditional NbN bolometer element that operates under the influence of a microwave pump. The injected microwave power serves the dual purpose of enhancing the detector sensitivity and reading out the impedance changes of the device in response to incident THz radiation. We have measured an optical Noise Equivalent Power of 4 pW/ √Hz for our detector at a bath temperature of 4.2 K. The measurement frequency was 0.83 THz and the modulation frequency was 1.48 kHz. The readout scheme is versatile and facilitates both high-speed operation as well as multi-pixel applications.

Keywords

bolometers; microwave detectors; microwave measurement; microwave propagation; niobium compounds; readout electronics; superconducting microwave devices; superconducting mixers; superconducting thin films; terahertz wave detectors; thin film sensors; HEB mixers; NbN; THz detector; THz radiation; frequency 0.83 THz; frequency 1.48 kHz; hot electron bolometer; hot electron bolometric direct detector; microwave pump; microwave reflection readout scheme; multi-pixel applications; noise equivalent power; optical NEP measurement; superconducting thin film; temperature 4.2 K; Bolometers; Detectors; Frequency modulation; Microwave measurement; Mixers; Temperature measurement; Voltage measurement; Hot electron bolometer (HEB); THz detector; microwave readout; superconducting detector;

fLanguage

English

Journal_Title

Terahertz Science and Technology, IEEE Transactions on

Publisher

ieee

ISSN

2156-342X

Type

jour

DOI

10.1109/TTHZ.2014.2370736

Filename

7001662