A Subharmonically Pumped Mixer in the Submillimeter Wave Range Using Single Diode Mixers and a Quasi-Optical LO Feeding Network

The design of a subharmonically pumped mixer in the submillimeter wave range is discussed, in which several single diode mixers are used. An important design criterion is the separate biasing of each single diode mixer. A distribution structure for the RF signal is given that avoids power splitting. The feeding network of the LO frequency was assembled at 150 GHz. Preliminary measurement results are presented, in which the required phase shifts between the beams of the LO signal have been achieved. Practical misalignments of λ/10 in the quasi-optical LO network are found to be negligible.