We have successfully demonstrated three 4×2 hot electron bolometer (HEB) mixer arrays, designed to operate between 4.2 and 5.5 K, with local oscillator (LO) frequencies of 1.4, 1.9, and 4.7 THz, respectively. These arrays consist of spiral antenna coupled NbN HEB mixers combined with elliptical lenses. These are to date the highest pixel count arrays using a quasi-optical coupling scheme at supra-THz frequencies. At 1.4 THz, we obtained an average double sideband mixer noise temperature of 330 K, a mixer conversion loss of 5.2 dB, and an optimum LO power of 210 nW. The array at 1.9 THz has an average mixer noise temperature of 425 K, a mixer conversion loss of 6.4 dB, and an optimum LO power of 190 nW. For the array at 4.7 THz, we obtained an average mixer noise temperature of 715 K, a mixer conversion loss of 8.9 dB, and an optimum LO power of 240 nW. We found the arrays to be uniform regarding the mixer noise temperature with a standard deviation of 3% to 4%, the conversion loss with a standard deviation of 8% to 11%, and optimum LO power with a standard deviation of 5% to 6%. The noise bandwidth was also measured, being 3.5 GHz for the three arrays. These performances are comparable to previously reported values in the literature for single pixels and also other detector arrays at similar frequencies. Our arrays met the instrument requirements and were employed in the Galactic/Extra-Galactic ULDB Spectroscopic Terahertz Observatory (GUSTO), a NASA balloon-borne observatory. GUSTO launched from Antarctica on the 31st of December 2023 having a successful flight of 57 days, the longest ever recorded by NASA for such a mission profile.@en

We have simulated and measured the beam properties of lens-antenna coupled hot electron bolometer mixers at a few supra-terahertz frequencies between 1.4 and 5.3 THz. The quasi-optical structures consist of an elliptical lens and a logarithmic spiral antenna. The model used for our simulations consists of a finite-element analysis to simulate the far-field radiation pattern of the antenna, geometrical optics to map the antenna radiation to the lens surface, and physical optics to calculate an arbitrary far field. We perform a thorough study of the beam properties, such as beam waist radius, phase center location and axial ratio by varying the diameter and extension of the lens, and misalignments of the antenna relative to the lens, at different operating frequencies. The simulation results are applied to the design and optimization of three different lenses for mixers to be operated at 1.4, 1.9, and 4.7 THz, respectively, which will be used in the heterodyne array receivers on board of NASA's balloon borne GUSTO observatory. The beam properties were verified experimentally by measuring the beam patterns in amplitude at multiple planes using a heterodyne technique. We found that the experimental results show good agreement with those from the simulations. Our work has delivered the mixers with the required beam characteristics for GUSTO.

@en