Abstract-A Terahertz (THz) Single-Polarization-Single-Mode (SPSM) Photonic Crystal Fiber (PCF)

Tianyu Yang, Can Ding, Richard W. Ziolkowski,  Y. Jay Guo,

https://www.mdpi.com/1996-1944/12/15/2442

This paper presents a novel approach to attain a single-polarization-single-mode (SPSM) photonic crystal fiber (PCF) in the terahertz (THz) regime. An initial circular hole PCF design is modified by introducing asymmetry in the first ring of six air holes in the cladding, i.e., epsilon-near-zero (ENZ) material is introduced into only four of those air holes and the other two remain air-filled but have different diameters. The resulting fundamental X-polarized (XP) and Y-polarized (YP) modes have distinctly different electric field distributions. The asymmetry is arranged so that the YP mode has a much larger amount of the field distributed in the ENZ material than the XP mode. Since the ENZ material is very lossy, the YP mode suffers a much higher loss than the XP mode. Consequently, after a short propagation distance, the loss difference (LD) between the XP and YP modes will be large enough that only the XP mode still realistically exists in the PCF. To further enhance the outcome, gain material is introduced into the core area to increase the LDs between the wanted XP mode and any unwanted higher order (HO) modes, as well as to compensate for the XP mode loss without affecting the LD between the XP and YP modes. The optimized PCF exhibits LDs between the desired XP mode and all other modes greater than 8.0 dB/cm across a wide frequency range of 0.312 THz. Consequently, the reported PCF only needs a length of 2.5 cm to attain an SPSM result, with the unwanted modes being more than 20 dB smaller than the wanted mode over the entire operational band.

Abstract-High-Tc Superconducting Fourth-Harmonic Mixer Using a Dual-Band Terahertz On-Chip Antenna of High Coupling Efficiency

Xiang Gao, Jia Du, Ting Zhang,  Y. Jay Guo

https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/8534418

This paper presents a dual-band on-chip antenna-coupled high-Tc superconducting (HTS) Josephson-junction subterahertz (THz) fourth-harmonic mixer. The antenna utilizes a couple of different structured twin slots to enable the resonant radiations at two frequencies, and integrates a well-designed coplanar waveguide network for achieving good radiation coupling and signal isolation characteristics. The electromagnetic simulations show that coupling efficiencies as high as -4 and -3.5 dB are achieved for the 160- and 640-GHz operating frequency bands, respectively. Based on this dual-band antenna, a 640-GHz HTS fourth-harmonic mixer is developed and characterized in a range of operating temperatures. The mixer exhibits a measured conversion gain of around -18 dB at 20 K and -22 dB at 40 K, respectively. The achieved intermediate frequency bandwidth is larger than 23 GHz. These are the best results reported for HTS harmonic mixers at comparable sub-THz frequency bands to date.

Abstract-Experimental Investigation of a Broadband High-Temperature Superconducting Terahertz Mixer Operating at Temperatures Between 40 and 77 K

• Xiang Gao, Jia
•  Du, 
• Ting Zhang, 
• Y. Jay Guo, 
• Cathy P. Foley

https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007%2Fs10762-017-0422-x

This paper presents a systematic investigation of a broadband thin-film antenna-coupled high-temperature superconducting (HTS) terahertz (THz) harmonic mixer at relatively high operating temperature from 40 to 77 K. The mixer device chip was fabricated using the CSIRO established step-edge YBa2Cu3O7-x (YBCO) Josephson junction technology, packaged in a well-designed module and cooled in a temperature adjustable cryocooler. Detailed experimental characterizations were carried out for the broadband HTS mixer at both the 200 and 600 GHz bands in harmonic mixing mode. The DC current-voltage characteristics (IVCs), bias current condition, local oscillator (LO) power requirement, frequency response, as well as conversion efficiency under different bath temperatures were thoroughly investigated for demonstrating the frequency down-conversion performance.