Series-connected array of superconductor-insulator-superconductor junctions in the 100-GHz band heterodyne mixer for FOREST on the Nobeyama 45-m telescope

TL;DR

This paper presents the design, fabrication, and successful field testing of a series-connected SIS junction array mixer for 100-GHz observations, achieving low noise and high efficiency for astronomical applications.

Contribution

It introduces a novel superconducting SIS array junction design with impedance matching and demonstrates its effective use in a telescope receiver for millimeter-wave astronomy.

Findings

Achieved a receiver noise temperature of 15-30 K.

Demonstrated over 92% signal coupling efficiency.

Successfully detected molecular lines with the developed mixer.

Abstract

In this study, we designed and experimentally evaluated a series-connected array of superconductor-insulator-superconductor (SIS) junctions in the 100-GHz band mixer for the multi-beam receiver FOREST on the Nobeyama 45-m millimeter-wave telescope. The construction of the junction chip comprised a waveguide probe antenna, impedance matching circuit, SIS array junction, and choke filter, which were made from a superconducting niobium planar circuit on a quartz substrate. The multi-stage impedance matching circuit between the feed point and the SIS junction was designed as a capacitively loaded transmission line, and it comprised two sections with high (~90 Ohm) and low (~10 Ohm) characteristic impedance transmission lines. The structure of this tuning line was simple and easy to fabricate, and the feed impedance matched with the SIS junction in a wide frequency range. The signal coupling efficiency was more than 92% and the expected receiver noise temperature was approximately two times the quantum limit for 75-125 GHz based on quantum theory. The array junction devices with 3-6 connected junctions were fabricated and we measured their performance in terms of the receiver noise temperature and gain compression in the laboratory. We successfully developed an array junction device with a receiver noise temperature of ~15-30 K and confirmed that the improvement in the saturation power corresponded to the number of junctions. The newly developed array junction mixer was installed in the FOREST receiver and it successfully detected the 12CO (J = 1-0) molecular line toward IRC+10216 with the Nobeyama 45-m telescope.