Skip to main content

Part of the book series: Springer Theses ((Springer Theses))

  • 624 Accesses

Abstract

In this chapter, we present two new studies investigating the behaviour of a tunnel junction operating near its superconducting gap, which can not be easily deduced from standard mixer theory. Firstly we used the current-voltage (IV) characteristic of an SIS mixer to study the localised heating effect of the tunnel junction by the tunnelling currents, and from this we were able to extract a fundamental physical property of the superconductor. Secondly, we studied the influence of the Josephson pair tunnelling on the sensitivity of an SIS mixer, where we observed that under certain circumstances, the pair tunnelling seems to improve the noise temperature performance of an SIS mixer.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this chapter

Chapter
USD 29.95
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
eBook
USD 84.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as EPUB and PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Softcover Book
USD 109.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Compact, lightweight edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info
Hardcover Book
USD 109.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Durable hardcover edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Purchases are for personal use only

Institutional subscriptions

References

  • Araújo, H. M., Puplett, E. F., & White, G. J. (2000). Optimizing phonon-cooled Nb hot-electron bolometers. Journal of Applied Physics, 88, 6801–6807.

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  • Dieleman, P., Klapwijk, T. M., Kovtonyuk, S., & van de Stadt, H. (1996). Direct current heating in superconductor-insulator-superconductor tunnel devices for THz mixing applications. Applied Physics Letters, 69(3), 418.

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  • Duzer, T. V., & Turner, C. W. (1981). Principles of superconductive devices and circuits. New York, Oxford: Elsevier.

    Google Scholar 

  • Dynes, R. C., Narayanamurti, V., & Garno, J. P. (1978). Direct measurement of quasiparticle-lifetime broadening in a strong-coupled superconductor. Physical Review Letters, 41(21), 1509–1512.

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  • Gershenzon, E. M., Gershenzon, M., Gol’tsman, G., Lyul’kin, A., Semenov, A., & Sergeev, A. (1990). Electron-phonon interaction in ultrathin niobium films. zh. eksp. teor. fiz. 97, 901–911.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kittara, P. (2002). The development of a 700 GHz SIS mixer with Nb finline devices: Nonlinear mixer theory, design techniques and experimental investigation. Ph.D. thesis, University of Cambridge, UK.

    Google Scholar 

  • Leone, B., Gao, J. R., Klapwijk, T. M., Jackson, B. D., & amd G. de Lange, W. M. L. (2001). Hot electron effect in terahertz hybrid devices. IEEE Transactions on Applied Superconductivity, 11(1), 649–652.

    Google Scholar 

  • Leone, B., Jackson, B. D., Gao, J. R., & Klapwijk, T. M. (2000). Geometric heat trapping in niobium superconductor-insulator-superconductor mixers due to niobium titanium nitride leads. Applied Physics Letters, 76(6), 780–782.

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  • Mitrović, B., & Rozema, L. A. (2008). On the correct formula for the lifetime broadened superconducting density of states. Journal Physics: Condense Matter, 20, 15215–15218.

    ADS  Google Scholar 

  • Prober, D. E. (1993). Superconducting terahertz mixer using a transition-edge microbolometer. Applied Physics Letters, 62, 2119–2121.

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  • Tan, B. K., Yassin, G., Kittara, P. & Leech, J. (2009). Measurement of electron-phonon interaction time of niobium using heating effect in SIS tunnel junction. In: Proceeding of the Twentieth International Symposium on Space Terahertz Technology, 275–+.

    Google Scholar 

  • Tan, B.-K., & Yassin, G. (2011). Josephson pair tunnelling influence on the performance of an SIS mixer near its superconducting gap. International Journal of Terahertz Science and Technology, 4, 123–127.

    Google Scholar 

  • Vystavkin, A., Tarasov, M., Prokopenko, G., Shitovl, S., Jacobsson, S., Koshelets, V., Kovtonyuk, S., Holmstedt, C., Filippenko, L., Lapitskaya, I. & Kollberg, E. (1994). Studies of Josephson mixing in SIS junctions. In 24th European Microwave Conference, 1994, vol. 2, 1949–1954.

    Google Scholar 

  • Wengler, M., Dubash, N., Pance, G. & Miller, R. (1992). Josephson effect gain and noise in SIS mixers. IEEE Transactions on Microwave Theory and Techniques, 40(5), 820–826. ISSN: 0018-9480.

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Book-Kok Tan .

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 2016 Springer International Publishing Switzerland

About this chapter

Cite this chapter

Tan, BK. (2016). The Characteristics of an SIS Junction Near Its Superconducting Gap. In: Development of Coherent Detector Technologies for Sub-Millimetre Wave Astronomy Observations. Springer Theses. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-19363-2_8

Download citation

Publish with us

Policies and ethics