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Review of Scientific Instruments

Ultrahigh frequency thin film rf-SQUID magnetometer with a cryogenic preamplifier employing a high-electron-mobility transistor

Antonella Cavalleri, MASSIMO CERDONIO, Giorgio Fontana, Grzegorz Jung, R. Macchietto, R. Mezzena, Stefano Vitale, J.-P. Zendri

Published Nov 1, 1992• 4 citations
Publisher

Abstract

Ultrahigh frequency rf-SQUID magnetometer employing a cryogenic preamplifier and a commercially available thin film rf-SQUID sensor have been designed, manufactured, and tested. The system has been operated at 316 MHz, which is the maximum pump frequency accepted by the thin film sensor. The cryogenic preamplifier has been built around a microwave high-electron-mobility transistor which was made unconditionally stable at ultrahigh frequency band by means of an appropriate circuit design, namely, a cascode configuration. The total flux noise of the magnetometer has been found to be 8.4 × 10−6Φ0/√Hz at 4.2 K and 5.8× 10−6Φ0/√Hz at 1.4 K. The temperature dependence of the fractional step rise α of the current-voltage rf characteristic has been measured to be proportional to the 2/3 power of the SQUID sensor temperature. The noise performance of the system at 4.2 K has been limited by the intrinsic SQUID noise only, in good agreement with theoretical predictions.

DOI
10.1063/1.1143409

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Ultrahigh frequency rf-SQUID magnetometer employing a cryogenic preamplifier and a commercially available thin film rf-SQUID sensor have been designed, manufactured, and tested. The system has been operated at 316 MHz, which is the maximum pump frequency accepted by the thin film sensor. The cryogenic preamplifier has been built around a microwave high-electron-mobility transistor which was made unconditionally stable at ultrahigh frequency band by means of an appropriate circuit design, namely, a cascode configuration. The total flux noise of the magnetometer has been found to be 8.4 × 10−6Φ0/√Hz at 4.2 K and 5.8× 10−6Φ0/√Hz at 1.4 K. The temperature dependence of the fractional step rise α of the current-voltage rf characteristic has been measured to be proportional to the 2/3 power of the SQUID sensor temperature. The noise performance of the system at 4.2 K has been limited by the intrinsic SQUID noise only, in good agreement with theoretical predictions.
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We report on the design and performance of a planar microwave rf-SQUID readout by a cryogenic preamplifier. The SQUID-sensor consists of a planar half-wavelength microstrip resonator, into which the SQUID-loop is integrated. The pump frequency is 1.7 GHz. The cryogenic preamplifier employs a microwave high electron mobility transistor (HEMT), located close to the SQUID sensor. Measurements of the flux noise and the fractional step rise parameter were carried out in the temperature range between 4.2 and 1.5 K. In an open loop white flux noise values of 2×10−6 Φ0/√Hz were obtained at 4.2 K.
A superconducting quantum interferometer device (SQUID) electronics with tank frequencies near 150 MHz was constructed to enhance the rf SQUID sensitivity. By these means we characterized our YBa2Cu3O7 thin-film rf SQUIDs with step-edge junctions immersed in liquid N2. We obtained transfer function values of over 40 μV/Φ0, at a 50 Ω input impedance, for both hysteretic and dispersive mode of rf SQUID operation. The rms white and 1/f flux noise levels were significantly lower than at the tank frequency of 20 MHz. The best magnetic field sensitivity at 77 K was 0.9 pT/Hz1/2, and the energy resolution 1.4×10−28 J/Hz, down to 0.3 Hz.
Applications of Superconducting Quantum Interference Devices (SQUIDs) usually require high sensitivity at relatively low frequencies, often down to 1 Hz or lower. Excess noise, typically with a spectral density scaling inversely as the frequency, can substantially reduce the sensitivity of SQUIDs at low frequencies. We have studied 1/f noise in niobium rf-SQUIDs in some detail. To reduce any noise contribution of the readout electronics, a cryogenic preamplifier was used. When one measures the signal voltage of the SQUID directly, a pronounced 1/f noise was observed in all samples, and was nearly independent of the bias frequency used. The crossover between 1/f and white noise moved towards higher frequencies as the bias frequency was increased, because of a lower white noise contribution. The 1/f noise scaled approximately as the inductance of the SQUID. When operated in a flux locked loop, however, no 1/f noise could be observed above 0.5 Hz. Operating a rf SQUID in a flux locked loop can thus substantially reduce 1/f noise in rf SQUIDs.
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User-friendly ultra-high-speed readout electronics for dc superconducting quantum interference devices (SQUIDs) are presented. To maximize the system bandwidth, the SQUID is directly read out without flux modulation. A composite preamplifier is used consisting of a slow dc amplifier in parallel with a fast ac amplifier. In this way, excellent dc precision and a high amplifier bandwidth of 50 MHz are achieved, simultaneously. A virtual 50 Ω amplifier input resistance with negligible excess noise is realized by active shunting, i.e., by applying feedback from preamplifier output to input via a high resistance. The white voltage and current noise levels are 0.33 nV Hz −1 and 2.6 pA Hz −1/2 , respectively. The electronics is fully computer controlled via a microcontroller integrated into the flux-locked loop (FLL) board. Easy-to-use software makes the various electronic settings accessible. A wide bias voltage range of 1.3 mV enables the readout of series SQUID arrays. Furthermore, additional current sources allow the operation of two-stage SQUIDs or transition edge sensors. The electronics was tested using various SQUIDs with input inductances between 30 nH and 1.5 µH. Typically, the maximum FLL bandwidth was 20 MHz, which is close to the theoretical limit given by transmission line delay within the FLL. Slew rates of up to 4.6 Φ 0 µs −1 were achieved with series SQUID arrays. Current noise levels as low as 0.47 pA Hz −1/2 and coupled energy sensitivities between 90 h and 500 h were measured at 4.2 K, where h is the Planck constant. The noise did not degrade when the system bandwidth was increased to the maximum value of about 20 MHz. With a two-stage set-up, intrinsic white energy sensitivities of 30 h and 2.3 h were measured at 4.2 and 0.3 K, respectively.