Shoichi Shiba

A Molecular Line Observation toward Massive Clumps Associated with Infrared Dark Clouds

We have surveyed the N2H+ -->J = 1?0, HC3N -->J = 5?4, CCS -->JN = 43?32, NH3 (J, K) = (1, 1), (2, 2), (3, 3), and CH3OH -->J = 7?6 lines toward the 55 massive clumps associated with infrared dark clouds by using the Nobeyama Radio Observatory 45 m telescope and the Atacama Submillimeter Telescope Experiment 10 m telescope. The N2H+, HC3N, and NH3 lines are detected toward most of the objects. On the other hand, the CCS emission is detected toward none of the objects. The [CCS]/[N2H+] ratios are found to be mostly lower than unity even in the Spitzer 24 ?m dark objects. This suggests that most of the massive clumps are chemically more evolved than the low-mass starless cores. The CH3OH emission is detected toward 18 out of 55 objects. All the CH3OH-detected objects are associated with the Spitzer 24 ?m sources, suggesting that star formation has already started in all the CH3OH-detected objects. The velocity widths of the CH3OH -->JK = 70?60 -->A+ and -->7?1?6?1 E lines are broader than those of N2H+ -->J = 1?0. The CH3OH -->JK = 70?60 -->A+ and -->7?1?6?1 E lines tend to have broader line width in the MSX dark objects than in the others, the former being younger or less luminous than the latter. The origin of the broad emission is discussed in terms of the interaction between an outflow and an ambient cloud.

Anomalous 13C isotope abundances in C3S and C4H observed toward the cold interstellar cloud, Taurus Molecular Cloud-1.

We have studied the abundances of the (13)C isotopic species of C3S and C4H in the cold molecular cloud, Taurus Molecular Cloud-1 (Cyanopolyyne Peak), by radioastronomical observations of their rotational emission lines. The CCCS/(13)CCCS and CCCS/C(13)CCS ratios are determined to be >206 and 48 ± 15, respectively. The CC(13)CS line is identified with the aid of laboratory microwave spectroscopy, and the range of the CCCS/CC(13)CS ratio is found to be from 30 to 206. The abundances of at least two (13)C isotopic species of C3S are thus found to be different. Similarly, it is found that the abundances of the four (13)C isotopic species of C4H are not equivalent. The CCCCH/(13)CCCCH, CCCCH/C(13)CCCH, CCCCH/CC(13)CCH, and CCCCH/CCC(13)CH ratios are evaluated to be 141 ± 44, 97 ± 27, 82 ± 15, and 118 ± 23, respectively. Here the errors denote 3 times the standard deviation. These results will constrain the formation pathways of C3S and C4H, if the nonequivalence is caused during the formation processes of these molecules. The exchange reactions after the formation of these two molecules may also contribute to the nonequivalence. In addition, we have confirmed that the (12)C/(13)C ratio of some species are significantly higher than the interstellar elemental (12)C/(13)C ratio of 60-70. The observations of the (13)C isotopic species provide us with rich information on chemical processes in cold interstellar clouds.

Development of 1.5 THz waveguide NbTiN superconducting hot electron bolometer mixers

We present a characterization of a 1.5 THz waveguide niobium titanium nitride (NbTiN) superconducting hot electron bolometer (HEB) mixer which can be pumped by a commercial solid state tunable local oscillator (LO) source. The NbTiN HEB mixer is made from a 12 nm thick NbTiN thin film deposited on a quartz substrate at room temperature. A gold electrode is formed in situ on the NbTiN thin film without breaking vacuum to ensure good contact. The uncorrected DSB receiver noise temperature is measured to be 1700 K at 1.5 THz, whereas the mixer noise temperature is derived to be 1000 K after corrections for losses of the input optics and the intermediate frequency (IF) amplifier chain. The required LO power absorbed in the HEB mixer is evaluated to be 340 nW by using an isothermal technique. The IF gain bandwidth is supposed to be about 1.3 GHz or higher. The present results show that good performance can be obtained at 1.5 THz even with a relatively thick NbTiN film (12 nm), as in the case of 0.8 THz. In order to investigate the cooling mechanism of our HEB mixers, we have conducted performance measurements for a few HEB mixers with different microbridge sizes both at 1.5 and 0.8 THz. The noise performance of the NbTiN HEB mixers is found to depend on the length of the NbTiN microbridge. The shorter the microbridge is, the lower the receiver noise temperature is. This may imply a contribution of the diffusion cooling in addition to the phonon cooling.

Development of THz Waveguide NbTiN HEB Mixers

In this paper, we present the development of the waveguide niobium titanium nitride (NbTiN) superconducting hot electron bolometer (HEB) mixers, cryogenically cooled by a 4 K close-cycled refrigerator. The NbTiN thin film is formed on a crystalline quartz substrate by sputtering an NbTi target with the Ar and N2 gas at room temperature. The HEB mixer element is fabricated by using the 12 nm NbTiN film, and is mounted on a waveguide block. Measurement of a Fourier transform spectrometer shows that the response of the mixer is centered near 810 GHz with a bandwidth of about 500 GHz. The uncorrected DSB receiver noise temperature is measured to be 500 K, and the noise bandwidth is to be 1.4 GHz at 810 GHz. The present result shows that a good noise performance can be obtained for the NbTiN HEB mixer even with a relatively thick film (12 nm) fabricated at the room temperature.

3.1-THz Heterodyne Receiver Using an NbTiN Hot-Electron Bolometer Mixer and a Quantum Cascade Laser

We have developed the 3.1-THz heterodyne receiver using an NbTiN Hot-Electron Bolometer (HEB) mixer and a THz Quantum Cascade Laser (THz-QCL) as a local oscillator. A quasi optical twin-slot antenna is adopted for the coupling of the RF signal with the mixer. The receiver noise temperature is measured to be 5600 K in DSB. When the optical loss is corrected, it is as low as 2100 K. This result demonstrates that the NbTiN HEB mixer works with the equivalent level of performance at 3.1 THz in comparison with the NbN HEB mixers usually employed in this frequency region.

Stability of a Quasi-Optical Superconducting NbTiN Hot-Electron Bolometer Mixer at 1.5 THz Frequency Band

We are developing quasi-optical superconducting hot-electron bolometer (HEB) mixer receivers for astronomical and atmospheric remote sensing applications. The microbridge of the HEB mixer was fabricated at room temperature from a 6.8-nm-thick niobium titanium nitride (NbTiN) film deposited on a 20-nm-thick aluminum nitride (AlN) buffer layer, using a helicon sputtering technique at a slow deposition rate. The mixer was cooled to 4.2 K using a closed-cycled mechanical 4 K pulse-tube cryocooler with a temperature fluctuation of ±1.6 mK. The stability of a large-volume NbTiN HEB mixer was studied at 1.47 THz by changing local oscillator (LO) power with the mixer bias voltage fixed. The intermediate frequency (IF) signal measured at 1.5 GHz had a maximum peak at a certain mixer bias current. The receiver noise temperature was lowest at around the IF maximum peak. It was also found that the IF signal was most stable at around the IF maximum peak under conditions in which the instability of LO pumping level, induced by small mechanical vibrations of the cryostat, remained in the optical system.