A Novel Highly Integrated Superconducting Electronic Heterodyne Receiver

Abstract

The invention discloses a novel high-integration super-heat-conduction electronic heterodyne receiver. A terahertz quantum cascade laser is adopted as a local oscillation source, the terahertz quantumcascade laser shapes an output beam through an off-axis reflector, a shaped local oscillation signal is directly coupled from the back surface of a superconducting thermal electronic mixer chip, anda detected signal is coupled to a superconducting thermal electronic mixer from the front surface. After frequency mixing, the intermediate frequency signal is amplified by a low-temperature working first-stage amplifier and a normal-temperature working second-stage amplifier, and then is analyzed and processed by a frequency spectrograph. According to the invention, only a single Dewar is used for cooling the terahertz quantum cascade laser and the super-heat-conducting electronic mixer, so that the structure of the receiver is simplified. Moreover, a beam splitter is not required to be usedfor coupling the to-be-measured signal, the radio frequency noise of the receiver is reduced, and meanwhile, the influence of air disturbance on the working stability of the beam splitter and the superconducting heterodyne receiver can be avoided. No adjustable optical element is arranged, no optical element is arranged outside the Dewar flask, and the integrated application in an actual system iseasy.

Description

technical field [0001] The invention belongs to the field of superconducting thermal electron heterodyne receivers, in particular to a highly integrated superconducting thermal electronic heterodyne receiver coupled with a local oscillator signal through the back of a superconducting thermal electronic chip. Background technique [0002] The terahertz band is between microwave and infrared, and this frequency band is one of the important frequency bands of modern astronomy. There are abundant molecular rotational spectral lines and fine-structure atomic spectral lines in the terahertz frequency band. High-resolution observations of these molecular and atomic spectral lines can study the chemical properties and kinematic characteristics of celestial objects. High-resolution observations of molecular rotation lines and fine-structure atomic lines in the terahertz band are of great significance for understanding the evolution of the early universe, the formation of stars and ga...

AI Technical Summary

Problems solved by technology

In order to reflect the local oscillator signal with sufficient power to ensure the normal operation of the heterodyne mixer, this method will cause a 10-20% loss of the signal to be tested when it is transmitted through the beam splitter, which greatly improves the radio frequency noise of the receiver system

This loss usually deteriorates the sensitivity of the entire receiver system by about 200K, and accounts for about 40% of the system noise temperature for a high-sensitivity superconducting thermal electron heterodyne receiver

Images