Compact Superconducting Terahertz Source Operating in Liquid Nitrogen

L. Y. Hao, M. Ji, J. Yuan, D. Y. An, M. Y. Li, X. J. Zhou, Y. Huang, H. C. Sun, Q. Zhu, F. Rudau, R. Wieland, N. Kinev, J. Li, W. W. Xu, B. B. Jin, J. Chen, T. Hatano, V. P. Koshelets, D. Koelle, R. Kleiner, H. B. Wang, and P. H. Wu

Phys. Rev. Applied 3, 024006 – Published 19 February 2015

Abstract

We report on a liquid-nitrogen-cooled compact source for continuous terahertz (THz) emission. The emitter is a ${Bi}_{2} {Sr}_{2} Ca {Cu}_{2} O_{8 + δ}$ intrinsic Josephson-junction stack embedded between two gold layers and sandwiched between two MgO substrates. The radiation is emitted to free space through a hollow metallic tube acting as a waveguide. The maximum emission power is $1.17 μ W$ . The tunable emission frequency bandwidth is up to 100 GHz with a maximum emission power at 0.311 THz. Since the operation voltage is about 1 V and the current is less than 30 mA, we are able to drive this terahertz source at 77 K with only one commercial 1.5-V battery, just like a torch. This convenient and economical setup may find applications in fields like tracer-gas detection or nondestructive evaluation.

Received 3 November 2014

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevApplied.3.024006

Authors & Affiliations

L. Y. Hao¹, M. Ji^1,2, J. Yuan², D. Y. An^1,2, M. Y. Li^1,2, X. J. Zhou^1,2, Y. Huang^1,2, H. C. Sun¹, Q. Zhu¹, F. Rudau³, R. Wieland³, N. Kinev⁴, J. Li^1,*, W. W. Xu^1,5, B. B. Jin^1,5, J. Chen^1,5, T. Hatano², V. P. Koshelets⁴, D. Koelle³, R. Kleiner^3,†, H. B. Wang^1,2,5,‡, and P. H. Wu¹

¹Research Institute of Superconductor Electronics, Nanjing University, Nanjing 210093, People’s Republic of China
²National Institute for Materials Science, Tsukuba 3050047, Japan
³Physikalisches Institut and Center for Collective Quantum Phenomena in LISA+, Universität Tübingen, D-72076 Tübingen, Germany
⁴Kotel’nikov Institute of Radio Engineering and Electronics, 125009 Moscow, Russia
⁵Cooperative Innovation Centre of Terahertz Science, Chengdu 610054, People’s Republic of China

^*junli@nju.edu.cn
^†kleiner@uni-tuebingen.de
^‡hbwang1000@gmail.com

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Vol. 3, Iss. 2 — February 2015

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