Low Noise 1 THz–1.4 THz Mixers Using Nb/Al-AlN/NbTiN SIS Junctions

We present the development of a low noise 1.2 THz and 1.4 THz SIS mixers for heterodyne spectrometry on the Stratospheric Observatory For Infrared Astronomy (SOFIA) and Herschel Space Observatory. This frequency range is above the limit for the commonly used Nb quasi particle SIS junctions, and a special type of hybrid Nb/AlN/NbTiN junctions has been developed for this project.We are using a quasi-optical mixer design with two Nb/AlN/NbTiN junctions with an area of 0.25 µm^2. The SIS junction tuning circuit is made of Nb and gold wire layers. At 1.13 THz the minimum SIS receiver uncorrected noise temperature is 450 K. The SIS receiver noise corrected for the loss in the LO coupler and in the cryostat optics is 350–450 K across 1.1–1.25 THz band. The receiver has a uniform sensitivity in a full 4–8 GHz IF band. The 1.4 THz SIS receiver test at 1.33–1.35 THz gives promising results, although limited by the level of available LO power. Extrapolation of the data obtained with low LO power level shows a possibility to reach 500 K DSB receiver noise using already existing SIS mixer.