A 2 THz Schottky solid-state heterodyne receiver for atmospheric studies

Obtaining temperature, pressure, and composition profiles along with wind velocities in the Earth’s thermosphere/ionosphere system is a key NASA goal for understanding our planet. We report on the status of a technology development effort to build an all-solid-state heterodyne receiver at 2.06 THz that will allow the measurement of the 2.06 THz [OI] line for altitudes greater than 100 km. The receiver front end features low-parasitic Schottky diode mixer chips that are driven by a local oscillator (LO) source using Schottky diode based multipliers. The multiplier chain consists of a 38 GHz oscillator followed by a set of three cascaded triplers at 114 GHz, 343 GHz and 1.03 THz.