ULTRASENSITIVE WIDEBAND INTEGRATED SPECTROMETER FOR CHEMICAL AND BIOLOGICAL AGENT DETECTION

A novel concept of a compact mm/submm integrated spectrometers for environmental monitoring for hazardous materials of chemical and biological origin as well as for remote monitoring of the Earth atmosphere is discussed. The agents will be exactly identified by their unique spectral signatures. The assembled on a multi-chip module, cryocooler-mounted Superconducting Integrated SPectromer (SISP) exploits the superior performance of superconducting Josephson junction technology and unique on-chip integration of analog components, analog-to-digital converter, and digital components. Analog components include a superconductor-insulator-superconductor (SIS) mixer with integrated quasioptical antenna, mm-wave local oscillator, and SQUID amplifier for the down-converted (IF) signals. Upon amplification, the IF signal is digitized using a bandpass delta-sigma modulator, followed by real time processing with rapid single flux quantum (RSFQ) circuitry. Experimental results showing both operation of spectrometer components and the way to their successful integration are presented.