Balloon-Borne Superconducting Integrated Receiver for Atmospheric Research

A Superconducting Integrated Receiver (SIR) was proposed more than 10 years ago and has since then been developed up to the point of practical applications. We have demonstrated for the first time the capabilities of the SIR technology for heterodyne spectroscopy both in the laboratory and at remote operation under harsh environmental conditions for atmospheric research. Within a SIR the main components needed for a superconducting heterodyne receiver such as an SIS-mixer with quasi-optical antenna, a Flux-Flow oscillator (FFO) as the local oscillator, and a harmonic mixer to phase-lock the FFO are integrated on a single chip. Light weight and low power consumption combined with broadband operation and nearly quantum limited sensitivity make the SIR a perfect candidate for future airborne and space-borne missions. The noise temperature of the SIR was measured to be as low as 85 K, with an intermediate frequency band of 4-8 GHz in double sideband operation; the spectral resolution is well below 1 MHz. The SIR was implemented in the three-channel balloon-borne instrument TELIS (TErahertz and submillimeter LImb Sounder) that detects spectral emission lines of stratospheric trace gases (like ClO and BrO). These gases even in small quantities can have a significant impact on the atmosphere because they speed up certain chemical processes, such as ozone depletion.