Waveguide submillimeter mixers

Abstract

A waveguide Schottky barrier diode mixer, which in preliminary tests has yielded a single sideband receiver noise temperature of 4300 K at 692 GHz, when cooled to 77 K is presented. Further refinements and operation at 20 K should produce a significant improvement in performance. From a system point of view, the very high efficiency of the radiation pattern produced by the conical feedhorn with cylindrical corrector mirror enhances the effective sensitivity by a factor of 1.5 to 2 compared to open-structure corner-reflector systems. A second-harmonic mixer for 557 GHz, also in the fundamental mode rectangular waveguide was developed. When combined with a frequency-tripled Gunn oscillator, this makes an extremely compact and lightweight submillimeter radiometer.