A 4.7 THz HEB QCL receiver for STO2

Darren J. Hayton*, Jian Rong Gao, Wouter Laauwen, Behnam Mirzaei, Andrey Khudchenko, Jenna L. Kloosterman, Dmitry Paveliev, Qing Hu, Wilt Kao, Vladimir Vax, Chris K. Walker

*Corresponding author for this work

    Research output: Chapter in Book/Conference proceedings/Edited volumeConference contributionScientificpeer-review

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    Abstract

    We report on a 4.7 THz heterodyne receiver designed for high resolution spectroscopy of the astronomically important neutral oxygen (OI) line at 4.745 THz. The receiver is based around a hot electron bolometer (HEB) mixer and quantum cascade laser (QCL) local oscillator. This receiver has been developed to fly on the Stratospheric Terahertz Observatory (STO-2), a balloon-borne 0.8 m telescope observing from an altitude of 44 km for 14 days or more. We measure a double sideband receiver noise temperature of 815 K (~ 7 times quantum noise) with a noise temperature IF bandwidth of 3.5 GHz. We describe the receiver performance expected in flight and outline novel approaches to QCL amplitude and frequency stabilization.

    Original languageEnglish
    Title of host publicationProceedings of 27th International Symposium on Space Terahertz Technology, ISSTT 2016
    PublisherInternational Symposium on Space Terahertz Technology (ISSTT)
    Publication statusPublished - 2017
    Event27th International Symposium on Space Terahertz Technology, ISSTT 2016 - Nanjing, China
    Duration: 12 Apr 201615 Apr 2016

    Conference

    Conference27th International Symposium on Space Terahertz Technology, ISSTT 2016
    Country/TerritoryChina
    CityNanjing
    Period12/04/1615/04/16

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