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arXiv:1009.5879 · Applied Physics Letters

A superconducting 180° hybrid ring coupler for circuit quantum electrodynamics

Eric A. Hoffmann, Frank Deppe, T. Niemczyk, T. Wirth, E. P. Menzel, G. Wild, Hans Huebl, M. Mariantoni, Thomas Weißl, Alexander V. Lukashenko, Alexander P. Zhuravel, Alexey Vladimirovich Ustinov, Achim Marx, R. Gross

Published Nov 29, 2010• 25 citations
arXivHTMLPDF

Abstract

Superconducting circuit quantum electrodynamics experiments with propagating microwaves require devices acting as beam splitters. Using niobium thin films on silicon and sapphire substrates, we fabricated superconducting 180° microstrip hybrid ring couplers, acting as beam splitters with center frequencies of about 6 GHz. For the magnitude of the coupling and isolation, we find −3.5±0.5 dB and at least −15 dB, respectively, in a bandwidth of 2 GHz. We also investigate the effect of reflections at the superconductor-normal conductor contact by means of low temperature laser scanning microscopy. Our measurements show that our hybrid rings are well suited for on-chip applications in circuit quantum electrodynamics experiments.

DOI
10.1063/1.3522650

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Superconducting circuit quantum electrodynamics experiments with propagating microwaves require devices acting as beam splitters. Using niobium thin films on silicon and sapphire substrates, we fabricated superconducting 180° microstrip hybrid ring couplers, acting as beam splitters with center frequencies of about 6 GHz. For the magnitude of the coupling and isolation, we find −3.5±0.5 dB and at least −15 dB, respectively, in a bandwidth of 2 GHz. We also investigate the effect of reflections at the superconductor-normal conductor contact by means of low temperature laser scanning microscopy. Our measurements show that our hybrid rings are well suited for on-chip applications in circuit quantum electrodynamics experiments.
Applications of up-to-date cryoelectronics, especially in quantum microwave engineering, require instruments that operating identically to an optical beam splitter. Using niobium technology for the application of thin film structures, we have fabricated a microwave signal power splitter with central frequency f 0 = 7.2 GHz. We have demonstrated experimentally that, in the 1-GHz band around central frequency f 0, the characteristics of the second and the third output ports are in the range of −3 ± 0.8 dB of the signal input power. The attenuation within power transfer from signal ports to the insulation port is 10 dB. The above-mentioned characteristics have been obtained at an operating temperature below the superconducting transition temperature.
This paper presents the design and simulation of a thin-film on-chip superconducting rat-race and quadrature branch-line coupler for circuit quantum electrodynamics. These couplers are designed at a center frequency of 6GHz using coplanar waveguide technology using a thin film of niobium or aluminum on sapphire substrates. The electrical connections are made between the ground using aluminum air bridges. The insertion losses to the through and coupled ports of rat-race and quadrature coupler are 3.1dB. The quadrature and rat-race couplers offer a wide bandwidth of 2GHz and 3GHz, respectively. A spectral shift of around 400MHz is observed in these couplers when operation is shifted from room temperature to the cryogenic regime. The simulated results have been discussed and analyzed.
We present here the design and characterization of an intermediate frequency (IF) assembly comprising a compact 90° hybrid chip (coupled line coupler - Lange coupler- coupled line coupler), two bias-T circuits for biasing the superconductor-insulator-superconductor (SIS) mixers, and two transmission-line circuits. Specifically, the miniaturized three-section hybrid chip fabricated using thin-film technology utilizes superconducting Niobium (Nb) transmission lines, air bridges to connect the fingers of the Lange coupler (middle section), and is complemented with two bias-T circuits with integrated MIM capacitors. The assembly was designed to ensure amplitude and phase imbalances better than 0.6 dB and ±2°, respectively. Experimental verification of the assembly at 4 K shows good agreement between the measurements and simulations with amplitude imbalance of 0.5 dB and maximum phase imbalance of ±2°. The ALMA band-5 (163-211 GHz) receiver will include such assembly. The receiver tests shows sideband rejection ratio better than 15 dB over the entire RF band, i.e., a systematic improvement of 3-9 dB as compared with the previously reported results.
Variable microwave-frequency couplers are highly useful components in classical communication systems and likely will play an important role in quantum communication applications. Conventional semiconductor-based microwave couplers have been used with superconducting quantum circuits, enabling, for example, the in situ measurements of multiple devices via a common readout chain. However, the semiconducting elements are lossy and furthermore dissipate energy when switched, making them unsuitable for cryogenic applications requiring rapid, repeated switching. Superconducting Josephson junction-based couplers can be designed for dissipation-free operation with fast switching and are easily integrated with superconducting quantum circuits. These enable on-chip, quantum-coherent routing of microwave photons, providing an appealing alternative to semiconductor switches. Here, we present and characterize a chip-based broadband microwave variable coupler, tunable over 4–8 GHz with over 1.5 GHz instantaneous bandwidth, based on the superconducting quantum interference device with two parallel Josephson junctions. The coupler is dissipation-free and features large on-off ratios in excess of 40 dB, and the coupling can be changed in about 10 ns. The simple design presented here can be readily integrated with superconducting qubit circuits and can be easily generalized to realize a four- or more port device.
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