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Applied Physics Letters

Dispersion in Nb microstrip transmission lines at submillimeter wave frequencies

Hamid Javadi, William R. McGrath, B. Bumble, Henry George LeDuc

Published Nov 30, 1992• 15 citations
Publisher

Abstract

We have measured the effects of dispersion on the resonant mode frequencies of open-ended Nb-SiOx-Nb microstrip transmission lines over a frequency range from 50 to 800 GHz. Submicron Nb/Al-AlOx/Nb Josephson junctions were used as both voltage-controlled oscillators and detectors to sample the high order modes of the resonators. The resonator modes are equally spaced up to about 550 GHz where the mode spacing start to decrease gradually to a minimum above the gap frequency fg≊700 GHz and then increases. Results are in good agreement with the expected theoretical behavior based on the Mattis–Bardeen conductivity of the superconductor line.

DOI
10.1063/1.108069

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IEEE Transactions on Applied Superconductivity•Jun 1, 1995•2 citations
We have measured the effects of dispersion on the resonant mode frequencies of open-ended Nb-SiOx-Nb microstrip transmission lines over a frequency range from 50 to 800 GHz. Submicron Nb/Al-AlOx/Nb Josephson junctions were used as both voltage-controlled oscillators and detectors to sample the high order modes of the resonators. The resonator modes are equally spaced up to about 550 GHz where the mode spacing start to decrease gradually to a minimum above the gap frequency fg≊700 GHz and then increases. Results are in good agreement with the expected theoretical behavior based on the Mattis–Bardeen conductivity of the superconductor line.
We have measured the dispersion in phase velocity of a Nb-SiO(x)-Nb microstrip transmission line resonator over a frequency range from 50 GHz to 800 GHz. A submicron Nb/Al-AlO(x)/Nb Josephson junction was used as a voltage-controlled oscillator to excite the high order modes in the resonator. The same junction is used as a direct detector resulting in a series of step-like structures in the DC current-voltage characteristic at the position of each mode frequency. The transmission line is dispersionless up to about 500 GHz where the phase velocity begins to decrease. This is well below the gap frequency f(sub g) approx. equals 700 GHz. Results agree qualitatively with the expected theoretical behavior near f(sub g). This onset of dispersion and loss in Nb transmission lines will have a significant impact on the design of submillimeter wave RF circuits.
The frequency dependence of the coupling of niobium superconducting transmission lines is measured for frequencies up to and above the superconducting gap frequency. For this purpose superconducting microstrips are integrated in log-periodic planar antennas and the spectral response is measured by means of a Fourier transform spectrometer with 1 μm2 Nb/Al2O3/Nb SIS junctions as detectors. Resonances of microstrips are observed up to 650 GHz, the superconducting gap frequency of niobium, but above that frequency no resonances have been detected. The measured resonance frequencies are in good agreement with a dispersive model for superconducting transmission lines based on the Mattis–Bardeen theory. The radiation coupling is lower than calculated, indicating significant dielectric losses.
We investigated parallel arrays of superconducting Nb/AlOx/Nb tunnel junctions nonevenly distributed in a superconducting Nb/SiO/Nb microstrip transmission line. Such devices are discretized Josephson transmission lines (DJTLs) in which, from theory, magnetic flux quanta (“fluxons”) can travel as solitonic waves when a dc current bias and a dc magnetic field are applied. We observed a reproducible series of resonant branches in each device’s I−V curve, at Josephson submillimeter-wave frequencies (from 240 to 720 GHz) matching the resonances predicted using a transmission line analysis, where the loading of the N=5 junctions is fully taken into account. The nonperiodic distribution was optimized to provide rf matching over a large bandwidth (450–650 GHz typically), implying that the plasma resonance of junctions is inductively tuned out over a similar band by the array. A confirmation of this comes from the observation, at frequencies higher than the untuned junctions plasma frequency, of several Josephson phenomena reported in this article: Fiske-like resonances, phase-locking of the n=3 resonance to an external 600 GHz microwave source, rf-induced zero crossing, and resonances at fractional harmonics of the rf signal. These experimental results are all compatible with a fluxon-based resonances interpretation, as in the extensively studied long Josephson junctions yet at higher frequencies. As reported elsewhere, we could detect ∼500 GHz microwave radiation emitted by our devices in the n=1 and n=3 modes. In light of these unique properties, we propose nonuniform DJTLs as a promising type of Josephson device for submillimeter-wave oscillators and fast fluxon-based electronics.
The frequency response of three superconductive niobium resonating circuits, formed by a Nb microstrip and a Nb tunnel junction, is measured and analyzed at frequencies above the superconducting gap frequency. The circuits are placed in a waveguide system and the frequency response is determined with a Fourier transform spectrometer. The calculated and measured resonance frequencies and bandwidths are in good agreement with the extreme anomalous limit of the Mattis–Bardeen theory on the anomalous skin effect in superconductors [D.C. Mattis and J. Bardeen, Phys. Rev. 111, 412 (1958)]. The observed loss is higher than predicted by this theory, in agreement with previous observations on Nb films. The use of other materials for striplines as tuning circuits for heterodyne superconducting tunnel junction mixers is analyzed.
The superconductor–insulator–superconductor (SIS) tunnel junction based on Nb material has been investigated theoretically at frequencies of 200–1400 GHz by modeling it as a segment of a superconducting microstrip transmission line and using the Mattis–Bardeen theory of anomalous skin effect. The modeling was used to predict the performance of a flux-flow oscillator (FFO) and a SIS frequency down-converter (mixer). It is shown that in a FFO the internal loss (quasiparticle and surface) limits flux flow to the frequency band of 260–770 GHz. A SIS junction of micron size employed as a mixer for frequency down-conversion demonstrates distributed behavior at frequencies above 550 GHz. We suggest that electrically long SIS junctions of resonant size can be used as self-compensating mixing elements with attractive performance in Nb as well as NbN mixers.
The high frequency properties of the one-dimensional transmission line consisting of a parallel array of resistively shunted Josephson tunnel junctions have been studied in the limit of relatively low damping where this nonlinear system exhibits new and interesting phenomena. Here we report on experimental investigations of a resonant step observed at a voltage corresponding to 600 GHz in the dc current-voltage characteristic of a parallel array of 20 identical small NbAlO/sub x/Nb Josephson junctions interconnected by short sections of superconducting microstrip line. The junctions are mutually phase locked due to collective interaction with the line sections excited close to the half wavelength resonance. The phase locking range can be adjusted by means of an external dc magnetic field and the step size varies periodically with the magnetic field.>