Stabilized hot electron bolometer heterodyne receiver at 2.5 THz

We report on a method to stabilize a hot electron bolometer (HEB) mixer at 2.5 THz. The technique utilizes feedback control of the local oscillator (LO) laser power by means of a swing-arm actuator placed in the optical beam path. We demonstrate that this technique yields a factor of 50 improvement in the spectroscopic Allan variance time which is shown to be over 30 s in a 12 MHz noise fluctuation bandwidth. Furthermore, broadband signal direct detection effects may be minimized by this technique. The technique is versatile and can be applied to practically any local oscillator at any frequency

Heterodyne Receiver Development at the Caltech Submillimeter Observatory

The Caltech Submillimeter Observatory (CSO) operates at the summit of Mauna Kea, Hawaii, at an elevation of 4200 m. The site was chosen for its very dry climate and stable atmosphere, enabling submillimeter observations in the astrophysically important 1.3 mm to 300 μm atmospheric windows. Ever since its inception, the CSO has proven itself to be a productive test-bed for new detector technologies. In this paper we review the heterodyne (coherent) receiver development at the CSO, and highlight some of the ways it has helped to shape the field of submillimeter and terahertz high spectral resolution far-infrared astronomy

IF impedance and mixer gain of NbN hot electron bolometers

The intermediate frequency (IF) characteristics, the frequency dependent IF impedance, and the mixer conversion gain of a small area hot electron bolometer (HEB) have been measured and modeled. The device used is a twin slot antenna coupled NbN HEB mixer with a bridge area of 1×0.15 µm^2, and a critical temperature of 8.3 K. In the experiment the local oscillator frequency was 1.300 THz, and the (IF) 0.05–10 GHz. We find that the measured data can be described in a self-consistent manner with a thin film model presented by Nebosis et al. [Proceedings of the Seventh International Symposium on Space Terahertz Technology, Charlottesville, VA, 1996 (unpublished), pp. 601–613], that is based on the two temperature electron-phonon heat balance equations of Perrin-Vanneste [J. Phys. (Paris) 48, 1311 (1987)]. From these results the thermal time constant, governing the gain bandwidth of HEB mixers, is observed to be a function of the electron-phonon scattering time, phonon escape time, and the electron temperature. From the developed theory the maximum predicted gain bandwidth for a NbN HEB is found to be 5.5–6 GHz. In contrast, the gain bandwidth of the device under discussion was measured to be ~2.3 GHz which, consistent with the outlined theory, is attributed to a somewhat low critical temperature and nonoptimal film thickness (6 nm)

An SIS-based sideband-separating heterodyne mixer optimized for the 600 to 720 GHz band

The Atacama Large Millimeter Array (ALMA) is the largest radio astronomical enterprise ever proposed. When completed, each of its 64 constituting radio-telescopes will be able to hold 10 heterodyne receivers covering the spectroscopic windows allowed by the atmospheric transmission at the construction site, the altiplanos of the northern Chilean Andes. In contrast to the sideband-separating (2SB) receivers being developed at low frequencies, double-side-band (DSB) receivers are being developed for the highest two spectroscopic windows (bands 9 and 10). Despite of the well known advantages of 2SB mixers over their DSB counterparts, they have not been implemented at the highest-frequency bands as the involved dimensions for some of the radio frequency components are prohibitory small. However, the current state-of-the-art micromachining technology has proved that the structures necessary for this development are attainable. Here we report the design, modeling, realization, and characterization of a 2SB mixer for band 9 of ALMA (600 to 720 GHz). At the heart of the mixer, two superconductor-insulator-superconductor (SIS) junctions are used as mixing elements. The constructed instrument presents an excellent performance as shown by two important figures of merit: noise temperature of the system and side band ratio, both of them within ALMA specifications

Continuation of connecting orbits in 3D-ODEs: (I) Point-to-cycle connections

We propose new methods for the numerical continuation of point-to-cycle connecting orbits in 3-dimensional autonomous ODE's using projection boundary conditions. In our approach, the projection boundary conditions near the cycle are formulated using an eigenfunction of the associated adjoint variational equation, avoiding costly and numerically unstable computations of the monodromy matrix. The equations for the eigenfunction are included in the defining boundary-value problem, allowing a straightforward implementation in AUTO, in which only the standard features of the software are employed. Homotopy methods to find connecting orbits are discussed in general and illustrated with several examples, including the Lorenz equations. Complete AUTO demos, which can be easily adapted to any autonomous 3-dimensional ODE system, are freely available.Comment: 18 pages, 10 figure

Full characterization and analysis of a terahertz heterodyne receiver based on a NbN hot electron bolometer

We present a complete experimental characterization of a quasioptical twin-slot antenna coupled small area (1.0×0.15 µm^2) NbN hot electron bolometer (HEB) mixer compatible with currently available solid state tunable local oscillator (LO) sources. The required LO power absorbed in the HEB is analyzed in detail and equals only 25 nW. Due to the small HEB volume and wide antenna bandwidth, an unwanted direct detection effect is observed which decreases the apparent sensitivity. Correcting for this effect results in a receiver noise temperature of 700 K at 1.46 THz. The intermediate frequency (IF) gain bandwidth is 2.3 GHz and the IF noise bandwidth is 4 GHz. The single channel receiver stability is limited to 0.2–0.3 s in a 50 MHz bandwidth

Active local oscillator power stabilization for a hot electron bolometer heterodyne receiver

We report on the application of a new technique for actively stabilizing the power of a far infrared gas laser as the local oscillator (LO) in a superconducting hot electron bolometer (HEB) heterodyne receiver system at 2.5 THz. The technique utilizes PID feedback control of the local oscillator intensity by means of a voice-coil based swing arm actuator placed in the beam path. The HEB itself is used as a direct detector to measure incident LO power whilst simultaneously continuing to function as heterodyne mixer. Results presented here demonstrate a factor of 50 improvement in the measured total power and spectroscopic Allan variance time. Allan times of 30 seconds and 25 seconds respectively are shown for large and small area HEB's with a measured effective noise fluctuation bandwidth of 12 MHz. The technique is versatile and can be applied to any LO source and at any LO frequency

Herschel observations of ortho- and para-oxidaniumyl (H_2O^+) in spiral arm clouds toward Sagittarius B2(M)

H_2O^+ has been observed in its ortho- and para- states toward the massive star forming core Sgr B2(M), located close to the Galactic center. The observations show absorption in all spiral arm clouds between the Sun and Sgr B2. The average o/p ratio of H_2O^+ in most velocity intervals is 4.8, which corresponds to a nuclear spin temperature of 21 K. The relationship of this spin temperature to the formation temperature and current physical temperature of the gas hosting H_2O^+ is discussed, but no firm conclusion is reached. In the velocity interval 0–60 km s^(−1), an ortho/para ratio of below unity is found, but if this is due to an artifact of contamination by other species or real is not clear