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Terahertz quantum cascade laser as local oscillator in a heterodyne receiver

H.-W. Hübers, S. G. Pavlov, A. D. Semenov, R. Köhler, L. Mahler, A. Tredicucci, H. E. Beere, D. A. Ritchie, and E. H. Linfield

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Abstract

Terahertz quantum cascade lasers have been investigated with respect to their performance as a local oscillator in a heterodyne receiver. The beam profile has been measured and transformed in to a close to Gaussian profile resulting in a good matching between the field patterns of the quantum cascade laser and the antenna of a superconducting hot electron bolometric mixer. Noise temperature measurements with the hot electron bolometer and a 2.5 THz quantum cascade laser yielded the same result as with a gas laser as local oscillator.

©2005 Optical Society of America

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Figures (6)
Fig. 1.
Fig. 1. Beam profiles (40×40 mm2 area) of the 2.5 THz QCL (left panel) and the 4.3 THz QCL (right panel) measured at 61 mm and 77 mm distance, respectively. The inset shows the orientation of the QCL (ridge on top, substrate at the bottom). The cross marks the position of the QCL projected into the beam diagram.

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Fig. 2.
Fig. 2. Cross sections of the beam profiles shown in Fig. 1. a) cross section of the 4.3 THz beam profile, c) cross section of the 2.5 THz profile, b) same cross section as in curve a) but scaled to 2.5 THz. The center of the QCL is at 20 mm.

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Fig. 3.
Fig. 3. Beam profile of the QCL at the position of the HEB mixer (~800 mm from the QCL) after passing through a TPX lens (focal length 85 mm).

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Fig. 4.
Fig. 4. Difference signal of two longitudinal modes of the 2.5 THz QCL. The FWHM is ~30 kHz. This is limited by the bandwidth of the spectrum analyzer (30 KHz). The time for the sweep was 4 ms (inset: experimental set-up).

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Fig. 5.
Fig. 5. Experimental set-up for noise temperature measurements with a QCL as LO and a superconducting HEB mixer.

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Fig. 6.
Fig. 6. IV curves of a HEB mixer pumped with a QCL at 2.5 THz. The arrow indicates increasing LO power. The square marks the position where the lowest noise temperature (2700 K DSB) has been obtained. It is worth noting that the same noise temperature has been achieved with a gas laser as LO.

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