Progress towards a 2.5-THz solid state heterodyne receiver with quantum cascade laser and hot electron bolometric mixer

We report on progress towards a solid state 2.5-THz heterodyne receiver. The front-end of the receiver is integrated in a pulse tube cooler. It consists of a quantum cascade laser (QCL) as local oscillator and a phonon-cooled NbN hot electron bolometric mixer. The QCL is mounted on the first stage of the PTC and operates at a temperature of about 45 K while the HEB is mounted on the second stage of the PTC (temperature ~5 K). Design and performance of the receiver will be reported.