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AIP conference proceedings

An X-band SQUID Multiplexer

Inseob Hahn, Bruce Bumble, Henry George LeDuc, Mark A. Weilert, Peter K. Day

Published Jan 1, 2006• 4 citations
Publisher

Abstract

We are developing a microwave readout multiplexer for arrays of superconducting quantum interference devices (SQUIDs). A series of microwave resonators with frequencies ∼10 GHz are each loaded by a dc SQUID to a degree that depends on the flux state of the SQUID. By using resonators with high quality factors and slightly different resonance frequencies, many of these resonator‐coupled SQUIDs may be read out with a single excitation line and cryogenic amplifier. Our multiplexer is similar to the one demonstrated by Irwin and Lehnert except for the use of higher‐frequency, fully‐lithographed transmission line resonators. We discuss a technique for modulating the SQUID array in series that alleviates the need to individually flux‐bias the SQUIDs. The multiplexer has applications to the readout of detector arrays for astronomy as well as medical magnetic imaging.

DOI
10.1063/1.2355324

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We are developing a microwave readout multiplexer for arrays of superconducting quantum interference devices (SQUIDs). A series of microwave resonators with frequencies ∼10 GHz are each loaded by a dc SQUID to a degree that depends on the flux state of the SQUID. By using resonators with high quality factors and slightly different resonance frequencies, many of these resonator‐coupled SQUIDs may be read out with a single excitation line and cryogenic amplifier. Our multiplexer is similar to the one demonstrated by Irwin and Lehnert except for the use of higher‐frequency, fully‐lithographed transmission line resonators. We discuss a technique for modulating the SQUID array in series that alleviates the need to individually flux‐bias the SQUIDs. The multiplexer has applications to the readout of detector arrays for astronomy as well as medical magnetic imaging.
We report on the development of a microwave superconducting quantum interference device (SQUID) multiplexer to read out arrays of low-temperature detectors. In this frequency-division multiplexer, superconducting resonators with different frequencies couple to a common transmission line and each resonator couples to a different dissipationless SQUID. We demonstrate multiple designs, with high-Q values (4100–18 000), noise as low as 0.17μΦ0∕Hz, and a naturally linear readout scheme based on flux modulation. This multiplexing approach is compatible with superconducting transition-edge sensors and magnetic calorimeters and is capable of multiplexing more than a thousand detectors in a single transmission line.
We present a hybrid microwave superconducting quantum interference device (SQUID) multiplexer that combines two frequency-division multiplexing techniques to allow multiplexing a given number of cryogenic detectors with only a fraction of frequency encoding resonators. Similar to conventional microwave SQUID multiplexing, our multiplexer relies on inductively coupling non-hysteretic, unshunted rf-SQUIDs to superconducting microwave resonators as well as applying flux ramp modulation for output signal linearization. However, instead of utilizing one resonator per SQUID, we couple multiple SQUIDs to a common readout resonator and encode the SQUID input signals in sidebands of the microwave carrier by varying the flux ramp modulation frequency for each SQUID. We prove the suitability of our approach using a prototype device and argue by means of fundamental information theory that our approach is particularly suited for reading out large cryogenic bolometer arrays.
We describe a superconducting quantum interference device (SQUID) multiplexer operated at microwave frequencies. The outputs of multiple SQUIDs are simultaneously modulated at different frequencies and summed into the input of one high electron mobility transistor (HEMT). The large bandwidth and dynamic range provided by HEMT amplifiers should make it possible to frequency-division multiplex a large number of SQUIDs in one output coaxial cable. We measure low SQUID noise (∼0.5μΦ0∕Hz at 4K) and demonstrate the multiplexed readout of two direct current (dc) SQUIDs at different resonant frequencies. In this work, dc SQUIDs are used, but this approach is equally applicable to radio-frequency SQUIDs.
We present a MHz frequency-division direct-current superconducting quantum interference device (dc-SQUID) multiplexer that is based on flux ramp modulation and a series array of N identical current-sensing dc-SQUIDs with tightly coupled input coil. By running a periodic, sawtooth-shaped current signal through additional modulation coils being tightly but non-uniformly coupled to the individual SQUIDs, the voltage drop across the array changes according to the sum of the flux-to-voltage characteristics of the individual SQUIDs within each cycle of the modulation signal. In this mode of operation, an input signal injected in the input coil of one of the SQUIDs and being quasi-static within a time frame adds a constant flux offset and leads to a phase shift of the associated SQUID characteristics. The latter is proportional to the input signal and can be inferred by channelizing and down-converting the sampled array output voltage. Using a prototype multiplexer as well as custom readout electronics, we demonstrate the simultaneous readout of four signal sources with MHz bandwidth per channel.
This thesis describes a multiplexer of Superconducting Quantum Interference Devices (SQUIDs) with low-noise, ultra-low power dissipation, and great scalability. The multiplexer circuit measures the magnetic flux in a large number of unshunted rf SQUIDs by coupling each SQUID to a superconducting microwave resonator tuned to a unique resonance frequency and driving the resonators from a common feedline. A superposition of microwave tones measures each SQUID simultaneously using only two coaxial cables between the cryogenic device and room temperature. This multiplexer will enable the instrumentation of arrays with hundreds of thousands of low-temperature detectors for new applications in cosmology, materials analysis, and nuclear non-proliferation.\nThe driving application of the Microwave SQUID Multiplexer is the readout of large arrays of superconducting transition-edge sensors, by some figures of merit the most sensitive detectors of electromagnetic signals over a span of more than nine orders of magnitude in energy, from 40 GHz microwaves to 200 keV gamma rays. Modern transition-edge sensors have noise-equivalent power as low as 10-20 W / [square root] Hz and energy resolution as good as 2 eV at 6 keV. These per-pixel sensitivities approach theoretical limits set by the underlying signals, motivating a rapid increase in pixel count to access new science. Compelling applications, like the non-destructive assay of nuclear material for treaty verification or the search for primordial gravity waves from inflation use arrays of these detectors to increase collection area or tile a focal plane.\nWe developed three generations of SQUID multiplexers, optimizing the first for flux noise (0.17 mu Phi0 / [square root] Hz) the second for input current noise (19 pA / [square root] Hz) and the last for practical multiplexing of large arrays of cosmic microwave background polarimeters based on transition-edge sensors. Using the last design we demonstrated multiplexed readout of prototype polarimeters with the performance required for the future development of a large-scale astronomical instrument.
We present a MHz frequency-division direct-current superconducting quantum interference device (dc-SQUID) multiplexer that is based on flux ramp modulation and a series array of N identical current-sensing dc-SQUIDs with tightly coupled input coil. By running a periodic, sawtooth-shaped current signal through additional modulation coils being tightly but non-uniformly coupled to the individual SQUIDs, the voltage drop across the array changes according to the sum of the flux-to-voltage characteristics of the individual SQUIDs within each cycle of the modulation signal. In this mode of operation, an input signal injected in the input coil of one of the SQUIDs and being quasi-static within a time frame adds a constant flux offset and leads to a phase shift of the associated SQUID characteristics. The latter is proportional to the input signal and can be inferred by channelizing and down-converting the sampled array output voltage. Using a prototype multiplexer as well as custom readout electronics, we demonstrate the simultaneous readout of four signal sources with MHz bandwidth per channel.