SEMICONDUCTOR-SUPERLATTICE FREQUENCY MIXER FOR DETECTION OF SUBMILLIMETER WAVES

• Published in: Journal of infrared, millimeter and terahertz waves Vol. 27; no. 3; pp. 373 - 380
• Main Authors: Renk, K F, Rogl, A, Stahl, B I, Meier, A, Koschurinov, Yu I, Pavel’ev D G, Ustinov, V, Zhukov, A, Maleev, N, Vasilyev, A
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: New York Springer Nature B.V 01-03-2006
• Subjects: Broadband; Frequency multipliers; Radiation; Radio frequency; Submillimeter waves; Superlattices; Transmission lines
• ISSN: 1866-6892; 1866-6906
• DOI: 10.1007/s10762-006-9074-y

We report on a GaAs/AlAs superlattice frequency mixer for detection of submillimeter waves. The mixer is based on the nonlinear miniband transport giving rise to domains excited under the action of a microwave field. We designed the mixer for broadband operation (300–600 GHz). For studying basic properties, we investigated the mixer as a harmonic mixer in 15th order to detect radiation at a radio frequency (RF) near 300 GHz using local oscillator (LO) radiation of a frequency near 20 GHz. We reached a noise equivalent power (NEP) of about 10 fW/Hz. We also show that the use of the superlattice mixer together with a superlattice frequency multiplier allows to realize a superlattice-based free-space transmission line for submillimeter waves.