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Development of superconducting mixers for THz astronomy

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Abstract

The terahertz (THz) regime, loosely defined as 0.1–10 THz, is the last frequency window to be fully explored in astronomy. In particular, it is a regime in which there are rich molecular rotation lines and atomic fine structure lines. They are very important tracers for studying the dynamics of astronomical objects such as stars and planetary systems. Observing those spectral lines usually makes use of coherent detectors (i.e., heterodyne mixers). With sensitivity approaching the quantum limit, superconducting mixers have become the coherent detector of choice in THz astronomy. In this paper we mainly introduce the superconducting mixers developed at Purple Mountain Observatory and those for international collaborative projects.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Purple Mountain Observatory, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Nanjing, 210008, China

    ShengCai Shi

  2. Key Laboratory of Radio Astronomy, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Nanjing, 210008, China

    ShengCai Shi

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  1. ShengCai Shi
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Correspondence to ShengCai Shi.

Additional information

SHI ShengCai was born in 1964. He received the Ph.D. degree in 1996 from the Graduate University for Advanced Studies, Japan, in radio astronomy. He joined Purple Mountain Observatory (PMO) in 1988, where he was engaged in the research and development of microwave and millimeter-wave receivers for a 14-m mm-wave radio telescope. He has been with Nobeyama Radio Observatory, National Astronomical Observatory of Japan from 1992–1998. He moved back to PMO in 1998 and is leading the Mm- & Submm-wave Lab there. His current research interests include superconducting device and detector technology, Gaussian optics and quasi-optical system design, and 3-D electromagnetic problems.

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Shi, S. Development of superconducting mixers for THz astronomy. Sci. China Inf. Sci. 55, 120–126 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11432-011-4514-2

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11432-011-4514-2

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