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A G-Band 2-Pixel Heterodyne Receiver with Integrated Local Oscillator Chain

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Abstract

A 2-pixel heterodyne receiver working in the 173–205-GHz band is presented in this paper. This receiver prototype is mainly composed of two balanced Schottky-based quadrature mixers and an integrated local oscillator (LO) chain. Based on sub-harmonically pumped mixing and quadrature coupling schemes, the proposed receiver operates in double sideband (DSB) mode or single sideband (SSB) mode. With combination of an external intermediate frequency (IF) 3-dB quadrature hybrid, the receiver can furtherly operate in sideband separation (2SB) mode. E-plane Riblet short-slot couplers combined with probe transitions are firstly employed in the radio frequency (RF) and LO path to realize quadrature configuration simultaneously; detailed theoretical derivation on 2SB operation is also given. The 2-pixel receiver is fabricated and tested, the measured SSB conversion loss of each channel achieves 12–20 dB when pumped with 18 dBm of input power at Ku-band, and the imbalance of conversion loss is less than 2 dB between all the IF ports. The typical sideband rejection ratio (SRR) is 12–16 dB over the operation frequency band. The corresponding achievements are valuable in the follow-up focal plane array detection system.

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Funding

This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant No. 61601232) and the Natural Science Foundation of Jiangsu Province, China (Grant No. BK20160963). This work was also partially supported by the National Key Laboratory Foundation of China (9140C530301140C53012), the Innovation Foundation of Shanghai Space Science and Technology (SAST2015092), and Collaborative Innovation Center on Forecast and Evaluation of Meteorological Disasters.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institute of Radar Technology, Nanjing University of Information Science & Technology, Nanjing, 210044, China

    Zhenhua Chen & Junxiang Ge

  2. National Key Laboratory of Science and Technology on Space Microwave, China Academy of Space Technology, Xi’an, 710100, China

    Xiang Chen, Wanzhao Cui & Xiaojun Li

Authors
  1. Zhenhua Chen
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  2. Xiang Chen
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  3. Wanzhao Cui
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  4. Xiaojun Li
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  5. Junxiang Ge
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Correspondence to Zhenhua Chen.

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Chen, Z., Chen, X., Cui, W. et al. A G-Band 2-Pixel Heterodyne Receiver with Integrated Local Oscillator Chain. J Infrared Milli Terahz Waves 40, 1035–1051 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10762-019-00625-w

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10762-019-00625-w

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