物理学报Issue(22)：1-13,13.DOI:10.7498/aps.64.228501
超高灵敏度太赫兹超导探测器∗
Terahertz high-sensitivity sup erconducting detectors
摘要
Abstract
The terahertz regime, as a last radio window, remains to be fully explored, and astronomical and atmospheric observations in this regime are scientifically important. Like other frequency regimes, developing high-sensitivity detectors (coherent and incoherent) is of particular significance for both ground-based and space-borne facilities. As the coherent detector of choice below 1.4 THz, superconductor-insulator-superconductor (SIS) heterodyne mixers have achieved as high a sensitivity as five times the quantum limit around 1.4 THz. It is, however, still a challenge to developing SIS mixers at frequencies beyond 1.4 THz with considerable transmission loss in superconducting circuits due to the Cooper-pair breaking by energetic photons and increased many difficulties in designing and fabricating. So far, superconducting hot electron bolometer (HEB) mixers have been the most sensitive heterodyne detectors at frequencies above 1.5 THz, and successfully used to detect molecular spectral lines up to 2.5 THz from ground-based and space telescopes. Although spiral-antenna coupled NbN HEB mixers show a good sensitivity in the whole THz frequency range, the directly measured spectral response with Fourier transform spectrometer falls quickly as frequency increases, especially above 3 THz. The terahertz band is also of particular importance to observe astronomical objects such as cosmic microwave background, early distant objects, cold objects and dusty objects. Aiming at such objects, we develop a terahertz imaging array system by combining advanced superconducting detectors such as transition edge sensor (TES) and microwave kinetic inductance detectors (MKIDs), thus the system has a frequency band centred at 350 µm, an operational temperature of 0.3 K, and a sensitivity reaching background limit performance for ground-based applications. In addition, it is expected to have some breakthroughs in ultra-sensitive superconducting TES and MKID, low noise multi-channel readout and multiplexing, efficient terahertz-wave coupling technology, and large-scale array system integration. The developed terahertz imaging array system will serve as the next-generation instrument of Dome A 5 m terahertz telescope, conducting a 350 µm-band legacy survey for studying the planets, stars, galaxies and cosmology. Besides the application in astronomy, the developed terahertz imaging array system can also be applied to some areas requiring rapid detection such as security, deep space exploration, and biomedical imaging. In this paper, we mainly introduce the superconducting detectors developed at Purple Mountain Observatory and those for international collaborative projects.关键词
太赫兹/超导/灵敏度/探测器Key words
terahertz/superconductor/sensitivity/detector引用本文复制引用
史生才,李婧,张文,缪巍..超高灵敏度太赫兹超导探测器∗[J].物理学报,2015,(22):1-13,13.基金项目
国家重大科研仪器研制项目(批准号:11127903)、国家自然科学基金重大项目(批准号:11190012)、中国科学院战略性先导科技专项(批准号：XDB04010300)和国家自然科学基金优秀青年科学基金(批准号:11422326,11222329)资助的课题.* Project supported by the National Major Scientific Instruments Development Project, China (Grant No.11127903), the Major Program of the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant No.11190012), the“Strategic Priority Research Program” of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (Grant No. XDB04010300), and the Outstanding Young Scientists Fund of the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant Nos.11422326,11222329) （批准号:11127903）
