An all solid-state 330 GHz frequency multiplying Chain for 664 GHz radiometers application

ABSTRACT

An all solid-state 330 GHz ×6 × 2 × 2 frequency multiplying chain is constructed and tested and it is used as a local oscillator (LO) in 664 GHz radiometers for cirrus clouds and cloud ice detecting. The frequency multiplying chain consists of a W-band sextupler, followed by a power-combined amplifier which delivers 460–540 mW output power, and two cascaded 165 GHz and 330 GHz balanced frequency doublers. The 165 GHz two-ways power-combined doubler applies four three-anode in series GaAs Schottky diodes to generate 50–63 mW output power in the frequency range 160–176 GHz, and its tested typical efficiency is 11.5%. The cascaded 330 GHz doubler uses a four-anode in anti-series arranged GaAs diode to generate 2.5–4.5 mW output power in the frequency range 320–352 GHz, and its tested typical efficiency is 6.0% and the maximum value is 8.0% at 328 GHz. The output power of the multiplying chain is high enough to pump the 664 GHz heterodyne radiometer for space application.

KEYWORDS:

• GaAs Schottky diode
• power-combing
• efficiency
• multiplying chain

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported in part by the Natural Science Foundation of Jiangsu Province (Grants No. BK20170960), in part by Shanghai Academy of Spaceflight Technology Innovation Fund (Grants No. SAST2017-102), in part by Jiangsu Innovation & Entrepreneurship Group Talents Plan.