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IEEE Transactions on Applied Superconductivity

Active components for high-T/sub c/ Josephson receivers

S. Beuven, Oliver Harnack, L. É. Amatuni, H. Kohlstedt, Marian Darula

Published Jun 1, 1997• 4 citations
Publisher

Abstract

We present results of a systematic work towards components for an integrated high-T/sub c/ receiver. As a local oscillator, which is necessary for heterodyne detection, the array type of the multi junction superconducting loop (MSL) was investigated. We observed the phase locking of all junctions by means of dc-measurements. At the same time the radiation of the array was detected using a detector junction coupled to the array. Phase locking of all junctions was achieved up to nearly 1 THz. Furthermore, the results of heterodyne mixing experiments in the W-band using single high-T/sub c/ grain boundary junctions are presented. The possible integration of Josephson oscillator and mixer into a single circuit is discussed.

DOI
10.1109/77.621769

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IEEE Transactions on Applied Superconductivity•Jun 1, 1999•2 citations
We present results of a systematic work towards components for an integrated high-T/sub c/ receiver. As a local oscillator, which is necessary for heterodyne detection, the array type of the multi junction superconducting loop (MSL) was investigated. We observed the phase locking of all junctions by means of dc-measurements. At the same time the radiation of the array was detected using a detector junction coupled to the array. Phase locking of all junctions was achieved up to nearly 1 THz. Furthermore, the results of heterodyne mixing experiments in the W-band using single high-T/sub c/ grain boundary junctions are presented. The possible integration of Josephson oscillator and mixer into a single circuit is discussed.
We have integrated an array of five High-T/sub c/ Josephson junction oscillators with a Josephson detector junction of high resistance, e.g. 25 /spl Omega/. High impedance detectors are suitable in integrated superconducting receivers. We find the output power to be sufficient to modulate the detector junction with large Shapiro steps in the frequency range 200-700 GHz. The oscillator junctions were dc-biased in parallel and integrated in an inductive high frequency coupling circuit to oscillate coherently in-phase. The high frequency coupling circuit is evaluated through its influence on the current-voltage characteristic of the Josephson junctions.>
The concept of a fully superconducting integrated receiver is developed and experimentally tested. This single-chip sub-mm wave receiver includes a planar antenna integrated with a SIS mixer and an internal superconducting Josephson-type local oscillator (flux-flow oscillator, FFO). The receiver is tested with a DSB noise temperature below 100 K around 500 GHz being pumped by its internal local oscillator (LO). The instantaneous bandwidth of 15-20% is estimated via FTS and heterodyne measurements that meet the requirements of most practical applications. The far field antenna beam is measured as ≈ f /10 with sidelobes below -16 dB that is suitable for coupling to a real telescope antenna. A nine-pixel imaging array receiver with each pixel containing an internally pumped receiver chip is developed and tested. A linewidth of the phase locked FFO as low as 1 Hz is measured relative to a reference oscillator in the frequency range 270-440 GHz. An rf amplifier on the base of a dc SQUID is developed and tested showing a noise figure below 10 K at 4 GHz and a bandwidth of about 300 MHz. This amplifier can be included as a part of an integrated receiver that is valuable for array applications.
Millimeter-wave detection in the heterodyne mixing mode has been carried out using the high-T/sub c/ superconducting GBJJ (grain boundary Josephson junction). The GBJJ was fabricated from high T/sub c/ superconducting Y-Ba-Cu-O films, prepared on YSZ and SrTiO/sub 3/ substrates using an RF sputtering technique. The junction was patterned by chemical wet etching with phosphoric acid solution. The authors carried out experiments in the heterodyne mixing mode for a signal of 35 GHz with local oscillation at 34.97 GHz. The detected IF (intermediate frequency) output power was obtained at a bias voltage lying midway between the zeroth and first Shapiro steps. A mixer conversion efficiency of -15 dB was obtained with a dynamic range of about 20 dB at 35 GHz. This result strongly implies that high-T/sub c/ superconducting GBJJ works well as a detector at millimeter-wave frequencies.>
A high temperature superconducting YBa2Cu3Oy array of five Josephson junctions designed with additional coupling lines has been developed to demonstrate the effects of frequency locking and impedance matching for applications such as oscillators, mixers, and detectors. The Josephson self-radiation power was directly detected by a superheterodyne receiver, and Shapiro steps were also measured. The Josephson self-radiation properties reveal good quality of phase locking and microwave coupling with external circuits. The maximum self-radiation power of our array is about 50 pW which is several ten times higher than that of a single Josephson junction, and its peak point exactly satisfies the Josephson current-voltage relation. The Shapiro-step measurements show that the behavior of current-voltage curve depends on the effective inductance of coupling lines which affects the total impedance of Josephson junction array and microwave coupling. The Josephson oscillation frequency was obtained up to about 880 GHz which is 73% of the maximum available frequency calculated from the characteristic voltage of the Josephson junctions. Experimental results show that this type of Josephson junction array can improve the Josephson self-radiation power and increase the maximum detectable frequency.
Josephson junctions made from high temperature superconductors (HTS) are active high frequency devices which can be used as oscillators or frequency mixers in the submillimeter-wave region. The frequencies of these electromagnetic waves range from 300 GHz up to 3 THz. Up to now, this wave band is a relatively unexploited region of the electromagnetic spectrum because it is very difficult to produce and detect submillimeter-waves. However, submillimeter-wave technologies are becoming important in many practical scientific applications such as radio astronomy, atmospheric research, plasma diagnostics and THz-imaging, recently. In this work, the behaviour HTS Josephson junctions have been investigated experimentally and theoretically with the aim to THz-applications. In the first part the behaviour of intrinsic Josephson junction stacks are measured, and the possibility of phase locking is discussed by the theoretical analysis of two different shunt technologies depending on the parameter spread of the junction and the shunt parameters. It could be shown that stacks made from sputtered BSCCO layers does not act as intrinsic Josephson junction arrays because of their many micro shorts resulting from the layer growth. However, the stacks made from sputtered TBCCO show clear intrinsic Josephson junction behaviour. But their quasiparticle branches in the current-voltage characteristic deviate from the behaviour predicted by the common used RCSJ model. These branches can be discussed within a tunneling model using d-wave superconductor density of states. A temperature dependent current distribution and a zero bias anomaly was found. Furthermore, the coherent behaviour is studied for intrinsic arrays with additional side-wall shunts. The existence of thresholds of phase locking at especial junction and shunt parameters are demonstrated and discussed in regard to THz-oscillator applications. It was found that the Josephson junctions in a stack can be phase locked even if they have a parameter spread in the critical current up to 15% using a resonant shunt. In the second part of this work the mixing properties of HTS bicrystal Josephson junctions as wave guide mixers for 115 and 345 GHz have been investigated. (orig.)
We report on the experimental realization of a sub-mm wavelength oscillator based on HTS Josephson junctions integrated on-chip with detector Josephson junction-mixer. Detector and oscillator are coupled via a microstripline. The oscillator is a 2-dimensional (2D) network (array) of 20 HTS step-edge junctions. The array is biased in parallel, i.e. all junctions of the network are oscillating with the same frequency. Effective pumping of the Josephson mixer was possible up to several hundred GHz. The best results, i.e. significant depression of the critical current and steep Shapiro steps up to the 4th order, were obtained between 150 GHz and 200 GHz. Power transfer was detectable up to frequencies around 1.15 THz.