HIGH TEMPERATURE SUPERCONDUCTING (BISMUTH) MILLIMETER WAVE MIXER

HIGH TEMPERATURE SUPERCONDUCTING (HTSC) MIXERS CAN OFFER LOW-NOISE PERFORMANCE WITH GAIN AT FREQUENCIES APPROACHING 100 GHZ. IF GAIN CAN BE ACHIEVED, CONVERSION LOSSES OF 2 DB CAN BE APPROACHED. THE USE OF HTSC MATERIALS OFFERS DRASTIC REDUCTION OF THE PROBLEMS IN COOLING WHEN COMPARED WITH LOW TEMPERATURE CIRCUITS, BUT THEY PRESENT CHALLENGES BECAUSE THE PRESENTLY AVAILABLE QUALITY OF THE NONLINEAR MIXING ELEMENT DOES NOT APPROACH THAT OF THEIR LOW TEMPERATURE COUNTERPARTS. IN PHASE I OF THIS EFFORT, WE PROPOSE TO TAKE ADVANTAGE OF ONGOING WORK ON OTHER PROGRAMS TO OBTAIN HTSC JUNCTIONS WITH IMPROVED CHARACTERISTICS AND TO OBSERVE THE CONVERSION EFFICIENCY THEY OFFER AT FREQUENCIES UP TO 3 GHZ. THE SPECIFICATIONS WILL BE EXTENDED DURING PHASE II TO CONVERSION LOSSES APPROACHING 2 DB AT FREQUENCIES APPROACHING 100 GHZ. THIS IS A TEAM EFFORT, WITH RF EVALUATIONS BEING CONDUCTED BY MICRILOR, INC. (ALSO A SMALL BUSINESS) AND MATERIALS BEING PROVIDED BY E.I. DUPONT DE NEMOURS AND COMPANY.