Broadband antenna-coupled high-temperature superconducting Josephson-junction mixer for terahertz communication applications

This paper presents a broadband terahertz (THz) high-temperature superconducting (HTS) mixer based on a log-periodic antenna-coupled YBa₂Cu₃O₇₋ₓ (YBCO) step-edge Josephson junction. The THz thin-film antenna, as well as the microwave coupling circuits, have been carefully designed to optimize the power transmission from and into the junction while realizing good isolation between the DC bias, local-oscillator and intermediate-frequency (IF) ports. This mixer device has been fabricated, packaged and characterized to demonstrate a frequency down-conversion capability with a view to potential application in THz wireless communication systems.2 page(s