Development of the HIFI band 3 and 4 mixer units

We describe the current status of the HIFI mixer units for Band 3 and Band 4. The mixer units cover the 800-960 GHz and 960-1120 GHz frequency range and have a 4-8 GHz IF frequency band. The major requirements and the design strategy are described. Functional tests of the magnet, the de-flux heater, IF-circuit, and the corrugated horn were performed. Details of the design of the mixer units and the performance status are presented. The DSB receiver noise performance ranges from 210 K at 850 GHz to 430 K at 1075 GHz.Kavli Institute of NanoscienceApplied Science

3.9 THz spatial filter based on a back-to-back Si-lens system

We present a terahertz spatial filter consisting of two back-to-back (B2B) mounted elliptical silicon lenses and an opening aperture defined on a thin gold layer between the lenses. The beam filtering efficiency of the B2B lens system is investigated by simulation and experiment. Using a unidirectional antenna coupled 3rd-order distributed feedback (DFB) quantum cascade laser (QCL) at 3.86 THz as the source, the B2B lens system shows 72% transmissivity experimentally with a fundamental Gaussian mode as the input, in reasonably good agreement with the simulated value of 80%. With a proper aperture size, the B2B lens system is capable of filtering the non-Gaussian beam from the QCL to a nearly fundamental Gaussian beam, where Gaussicity increases from 74% to 99%, and achieves a transmissivity larger than 30%. Thus, this approach is proven to be an effective beam shaping technique for QCLs, making them to be suitable local oscillators in the terahertz range with a Gaussian beam. Besides, the B2B lens system is applicable to a wide frequency range if the wavelength dependent part is properly scaled.ImPhys/OpticsQN/van der Zant La