A 650-GHz Band SIS Receiver for Balloon-Borne Limb-Emission Sounder

A superconducting low-noise receiver has been developed for atmospheric observations in the 650-GHz band. A waveguide-type tunerless mixer mount was designed based on one for the 200-GHz band. Two niobium SIS (superconductor-insulator-superconductor) junctions were connected by a tuning inductance to cancel the junction capacitance. We designed the R_nC_j product to be 8 and the current density to be 5.5 kA/cm². The measured receiver noise temperature in DSB was 126-259 K in the frequency range of 618-660 GHz at an IF of 5.2 GHz, and that in the IF band (5-7 GHz) was 126-167 K at 621 GHz. Direct detection measurements using a Fourier transform spectrometer (FTS) showed the frequency response of the SIS mixer to be in the range of about 500-700 GHz. The fractional bandwidth was about 14%. The SIS receiver will be installed in a balloon-borne limb-emission sounder that will be launched from Sanriku Balloon Center in Japan.     

Design of Reconfigurable Millimeter-Wave Patch Antenna

Reconfigurable antenna is a novel concept of antenna. A novel reconfigurable millimeter-wave patch antenna is proposed and simulated by the finite-difference time-domain (FDTD) method. The simulation results demonstrate that the antenna can operate in two states and shift the operation frequency band between 22.830.8GHz and 28.737.3GHz as the state is changed. This antenna is useful for millimeter-wave wireless communication and radar systems.     

Pressure broadening coefficients of the water vapor lines at 556.936 and 752.033 GHz

The air induced broadening coefficients of the pure rotational transitions of H₂O at 556.936 GHz (1₁₀←1₀₁), and 752.033 GHz (2₁₁←2₀₂) were measured by terahertz time-domain spectroscopy. The air broadening coefficient was determined to be for the 556.936 GHz line and for the 752.033 GHz line, respectively. The present broadening coefficients for the 556.936 GHz water line are significantly smaller than those of Markov and Krupnov [Measurements of the pressure shift of the 1(10)-1(01) water line at 556.936 GHz produced by mixtures of gases. J Mol Spect 1995:172;211-4] but relatively close to the values of the HITRAN database. The measured data may improve the accuracy of the abundance of water vapor retrieved from spectra obtained by the Odin/SMR satellite instrument. The effect on the satellite retrieval processing is discussed.     

TE03 to TE01 mode converters for use with a 150 GHz gyrotron

Two-step high-power TE03-to-TE01 mode transducers (TE02 is the intermediate mode) were designed to transform the TE03 output mode of the 150 GHz KfK gyrotron into the fundamental circular symmetric TE01 mode for low-loss propagation and further conversion into the linearly polarized quasioptical HE11 mode. The advanced perturbation structures of the ruppled-wall mode converters (with input- and output-diameter D=27.8 mm) were optimized by numerically solving the proper coupled-wave differential equations. The overall TE03-to-TE01 conversion efficiency at 150 GHz was calculated to be ₀=99.1% for a long converter (total length L=2.67 m) and ₀=97.8% for a short converter (L=1.07 m); ohmic attenuation is included. The corresponding theoretical bandwidth (for 95%) is ±1.4 GHz and ±2 GHz, respectively. Low-power experimental data are in excellent agreement with these computed values.     

A dual-polarization InSb receiver for 461/492 GHz

A dual-polarization InSb hot-electron bolometer-mixer receiver has been built for the James Clerk Maxwell Telescope, for operation at 461 and 492 GHz (the frequencies of theJ=43 rotational transition of CO and of the³ P ₁³ P ₀ transition of neutral carbon). Receiver noise temperatures of 500K have been obtained at 461 GHz, in observing bandwidths of 3 MHz. The receiver was designed as a common-user or facility instrument. Here we describe those aspects of the design and construction which enabled this goal to be realized.     

Investigations of sol–gel-derived highly (100)-oriented Ba0.5Sr0.5TiO3 : MgO composite thin films for phase-shifter applications

Sol–gel deposition of highly oriented Ba_0.5Sr_0.5TiO₃:MgO composite thin films has shown desirable dielectric constant reduction and higher figure of merit for phase-shifter applications. In this multilayer configuration, MgO distributed homogeneously through the Ba_0.5Sr_0.5TiO₃ (BST50) matrix, and it helped in tailoring the dielectric constant and reducing the loss tangent significantly. In the present study, the high-frequency dielectric behavior of the films has been evaluated by fabricating an eight-element coupled microstrip phase shifter and measuring the degree of phase shift and insertion loss as a function of applied voltage at room temperature. An increase in phase-shifter figure of merit (degree of phase shift per dB insertion loss) from 28°/dB for pure BST50 to 71°/dB for a BST50:MgO film (at 14 GHz and 333 kV/cm) has been observed. PACS 77.55.+f; 81.20.Fw; 73.40.-c; 85.50.-n     

Lithographic Dipole Antenna Properties at 10 μm Wavelength: Comparison of Method-of-Moments Predictions with Experiment

Dipole antennas designed for operation at 10 m wavelength have been fabricated by optical lithography and their properties measured by detection of CO₂ laser radiation in integrated thin-film bolometers. We find a remarkably strong increase in cross-polarized signal as the antenna linewidth is increased. The measured beam pattern is a saddle point at broadside (local minimum in the H-plane, local maximum in the E-plane) as predicted by standard method-of-moments theory.     

Design and comparison of single-mode planar and ridge type electro-optic waveguide modulators

Electro-optic waveguide modulators utilizing phase retardation of two orthogonally polarized optical modes in LiNbO₃ and LiTaO₃ waveguides have been designed taking into consideration the optical field distribution in the waveguides and the electrical properties of the electrodes. The analysis has revealed that a driving-voltage to frequency-bandwidth ratio of 1 V/GHz is attainable at the wavelength of 1.05 m using presently available embedded and ridge waveguides. Improvement in waveguide fabrication techniques may reduce the ratio by at least a half. Thus, LiNbO₃ and LiTaO₃ waveguide modulators are considered to be promising candidates for practical application to single-mode optical-fibre transmission systems of higher than 1 Gbit/s.     

A Low-Noise 230 GHz SIS Receiver for Radio Astronomy Employing Untuned Nb/AlOx/Nb Tunnel Junctions

A heterodyne receiver based on a 1/3 reduced height rectangular waveguide SIS mixer with two mechanical tuners has been built for astronomical observations of molecular transitions in the 230 GHz frequency band. The mixer used an untuned array (R_nC_j3, R_n70 ) of four Nb/AIOx/Nb tunnel junctions in series as a nonlinear mixing element. A reasonable balance between the input and output coupling efficiencies has been obtained by choosing the junction number N=4. The receiver exhibits DSB (Double Side Band) noise temperature around 50 K over a frequency range of more than 10 GHz centered at 230 GHz. The lowest system noise temperature of 38 K has been recorded at 232.5 GHz. Mainly by adjusting the subwaveguide backshort, the SSB (Single Side Band) operation with image rejection of 15 dB is obtained with the noise temperature as low as 50 K. In addition, the noise contribution from each receiver component has been studied further. The minimum SIS mixer noise temperature is estimated as 15 K, pretty close to the quantum limit v/k11 K at 230 GHz. It is believed that the receiver noise temperatures presented are the lowest yet reported for a 230 GHz receiver using untuned junctions.     

Influence of graphene nanoplatelet content on the electromagnetic and microwave absorbing properties of BiFeO<Subscript>3</Subscript>/GNP/epoxy composites

Ternary composites of BiFeO₃/graphene nanoplatelet (GNP)/epoxy composites were synthesized and its electromagnetic and microwave absorbing properties were studied; the main absorbing mechanism was illustrated. The phase, microstructure, and microwave absorbing properties were characterized by X-ray diffraction, scanning electron microscope, and vector network analyzer. The results indicated that the BiFeO₃ was successfully synthesized and the GNP was uniformly distributed in the composites, and the complex permittivity of BiFeO₃/GNP/epoxy composites increased with increasing the GNP content due to the interface polarization and conductance loss. The minimum reflection loss value was reached to ??45 dB at 9.25 GHz with the thickness of 1.4 mm when the GNP content was 2 wt%, and also the absorbing properties of (BiFeO₃+GNP)/epoxy composites can be tailored by the GNP content and composite thickness, which may be used as a kind of absorbing materials with good absorbing performance and low density.

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Graphical abstract The reflection loss curves and the simulated matching thickness of GNP-BiFeO₃-epoxy composites with 2 wt% GNP content. As can be seen, the minimum reflection loss value was reached to ??45 dB at 9.25 GHz with the thickness of 1.4 mm, and also the quarter-wavelength matching theory can be used to illustrate the good absorbing properties of GNP-BiFeO₃-epoxy composites.

     

Simultaneous phase-lock of five CO2 lasers to a primary Cs frequency standard

The output of a CO₂ laser, operating on theP _I(18) transition of¹³C¹⁶O₂ at 26941 GHz (11.128 m) was phase-locked to a 5 MHz signal from a primary Cs frequency standard by means of a frequency chain having only CO₂ lasers as infrared sources. Simultaneously, four other CO₂ lasers in the chain were phase-locked to the 26941 GHz output. This provided CO₂ laser frequencies at 26 450 305, 26 940 815, 28 694 625, 29 442 480, and 33 185 715 MHz having zero long-term-average frequency error relative to the Cs standard, and the ±10^–13 (3 Hz) long-term absolute uncertainty of the standard.     

Simple 1 MM Receivers with a Fixed Tuned Double Sideband SIS Mixer and a Wideband INP MMIC Amplifier

We report on techniques to broaden the intermediate frequency (IF) bandwidth of the BerkeleyIllinoisMaryland Array (BIMA) 1mm SuperconductorInsulatorSuperconductor (SIS) heterodyne receivers by combining fixed tuned Double Side Band (DSB) SIS mixers and wideband Monolithic Microwave Integrated Circuit (MMIC) IF amplifiers. To obtain the flattest receiver gain across the IF band we tested three schemes for keeping the mixer and amplifier as electrically close as possible. In Receiver I, we connected separate mixer and MMIC modules by a 1 stainless steel SMA elbow. In Receiver II, we integrated mixer and MMIC into a modified BIMA mixer module. In Receiver III, we devised a thermally split block in which mixer and MMIC can be maintained at different temperatures–in this receiver module the mixer at 4 K sees very little of the 10–20 mW heat load of the biased MMIC at 10 K. The best average receiver noise we achieved by combining SIS mixer and MMIC amplifier is 45 50 K DSB for _LO = 215–240 GHz and below 80 K DSB for _LO = 205 270 GHz. Over an IF frequency band of 1 – 4 GHz we have demonstrated receiver DSB noise temperatures of 40 – 60 K. Of the three receiver schemes, we feel Receiver III shows the most promise for continued development.     

Fourier-transform microwave and submillimeter-wave spectroscopy of chloroiodomethane, CH2ICl

Guided by a previous microwave study (9–35 GHz), the rotational spectrum of both chlorine isotopologues of chloroiodomethane in its vibrational and electronic ground state has been re-investigated in the microwave region and extended to the millimeter/submillimeter-wave region. Weak a-type transitions have been recorded by Fourier transform microwave spectroscopy below 20 GHz whilst strong b-type rotational transitions have been recorded between 15 and 646 GHz, corresponding to energy levels with J″ ≤ 108 and . Molecular constants including those describing the hyperfine structures owing to the two halogen atoms were accurately determined for both species from the least-squares analysis of a total of 1475 distinct transition frequencies (of which 906 belong to the CH₂I³⁵Cl isotopologue). The two sets of rotational constants allowed us to derive an r₀ structure of CH₂ICl.     

Analysis and modeling of a high-temperature superconducting floating resonant strip in waveguide

A two-gap floating resonant strip is used for characterization of the high-temperature superconductor, YBa₂Cu₃O_7–. The method has the advantages of simplicity, no electrical contact, operation at various resonant frequencies, and of requiring only a small sample. An analysis was devised that allows for the accurate design of the strip dimensions to produce a desired resonant frequency. Experimental measurements in X and Kuband (8–18 GHz) agree well with the calculations. The sensitivities of the circuit to positional errors and size variations of the resonant strip were investigated. The surface resistance was measured and compared favorably with the theory.     

The C hyperfine constants of HCS and HSC studied by microwave spectroscopy

The ¹³C hyperfine constants of the H¹³CS and HS¹³C radicals are determined by microwave spectroscopy. For H¹³CS, the 1₀₁-0₀₀ rotational transition is measured at 38.5 GHz with a Fourier transform microwave spectrometer, and two ¹³C hyperfine constants are determined. They are well interpreted in terms of a relatively large HCS bonding angle (132.8°). For HS¹³C, the N=7-6, 9-8, and 10-9 rotational transitions are measured in the 268-384 GHz region by using a source modulation spectrometer combined with a free-space discharge cell, and five ¹³C hyperfine constants including the nuclear spin-rotation constant, C_aa, are determined. From the ¹³C hyperfine constants, the p character of the unpaired electron orbital on the carbon atom is estimated to be 66.5%, supporting a classical resonance picture; .     

Assignment of the 15NH3 ν2(2a->2s) Rotational MIR Laser Transitions Pumped by a Tunable CO2 Laser

The assignment of the ¹⁵NH₃ MIR rotational laser lines previously observed (T. Tillert, et at. Int. J. of IR&MMW 17,1011-21(1996)) inside the 2₂ vibrational level is reported. The most part of the reported emissions of this isotopic species is due to the off resonance two photon pumping (Oa->1s->2a) with intermediate detunings as large as 800GHz