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Superconductor Science and Technology

Real-time monitoring of a photomixing signal using a high-TCJosephson junction

Toshihiko Kiwa, Masayoshi Tonouchi

Published Jun 5, 2004• 5 citations
Publisher

Abstract

An optical–microwave conversion system has been proposed as a high-stability oscillator in the microwave and millimetre-wave frequency region. A photomixer with heterodyne mixing of two lasers was applied to generate electromagnetic waves and a high-TC grain boundary Josephson junction detector was used to monitor the frequency of the electromagnetic waves in real time. We described the system in detail; it employed a sealed optical connector to introduce the optical signal directly into the cryostat.

DOI
10.1088/0953-2048/17/8/008

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An optical–microwave conversion system has been proposed as a high-stability oscillator in the microwave and millimetre-wave frequency region. A photomixer with heterodyne mixing of two lasers was applied to generate electromagnetic waves and a high-TC grain boundary Josephson junction detector was used to monitor the frequency of the electromagnetic waves in real time. We described the system in detail; it employed a sealed optical connector to introduce the optical signal directly into the cryostat.
A new type of optical-microwave conversion system has been developed as an interface between optical systems and high-speed electric circuits. The microwave was generated by mixing two optical beams in a photodiode and radiated from a rod antenna, which was placed beside a high-Tc grain boundary Josephson junction detector. Since frequencies of radiated microwaves correspond to the frequency differences between the two optical beams, the wavelength information of the beams is reflected in the current-voltage and differential resistance-voltage properties of the Josephson junction. System operation up to 20 GHz was demonstrated by changing the wavelength of the two beams and the temperature of the Josephson junction. The relation between the frequency differences and measured Shapiro step intervals suggests that the system can be utilized for a highly sensitive optical-microwave conversion.
We have fabricated a generation and detection system of photomixing signals using a photomixing technique and a Josephson junction detector. Up to now, an electromagnetic wave generated by a heterodyne mixing of two lasers was emitted from an antenna, and irradiated to a Josephson junction. In this study, we have developed the system, and the photomixing signal was introduced into a coaxial cable and a coplanar wave guide coupled to a Josephson junction. This structure is more suitable for device application since it can easily be integrated into electronic devices. With this system we can clearly observed photomixing signals from 16 GHz to 95 GHz using a uni-traveling-carrier photodiode as a photomixer as well as signals in the range of 14 GHz to 50 GHz using an InGaAs PIN photodiode.
Using a high Tc superconducting grain boundary Josephson junction, harmonic mixing experiments in the mm waveband were carried out, aiming at as large a harmonic number and as high a signal frequency as possible. The dependencies of intermediate frequency output on dc bias, harmonic number, frequency of local oscillator (LO), and other parameters were carefully studied. Until now, our best result was the mixing between the signal at 95 GHz and the 105th harmonic of LO at about 900 MHz. Preliminary experiments using a high Tc harmonic mixer and phase-locking loop were tried to stabilize the frequency of a mm wave source.
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.>
Thin film niobium nitride Josephson tunnel junctions have been used as harmonic mixers in experiments to measure the frequency of various submillimetre wavelength laser lines. The Josephson junctions were used as harmonic mixers with an 18-40 GHz microwave synthesiser providing the local oscillator signal. Harmonics up to the 140th of ∼18 GHz, generated within the junction, mixed with optically pumped laser lines up to 2.5 THz to produce output signals around 20 MHz. Results of frequency measurements and data on the performance of the mixing system, including signal to noise ratios and frequency response, will be presented.
Using high-Tc Josephson junctions made of YBa2Cu3O7−δ deposited across MgO bicrystal boundary, at terahertz (THz) frequency band, we demonstrated both fundamental and harmonic mixing. Radiation from a far-infrared laser was coupled to the junction, which was integrated with a planar bow-tie antenna, via an extended hyperhemispherical silicon lens. Fundamental mixing manifested itself in the junction’s dc current–voltage (I–V) curve as a third Shapiro step in addition to those two induced by the THz laser lines from a slightly misaligned resonator. In harmonic mixing between a THz laser line and a microwave local oscillator, the highest harmonic number we could get was 490 with a signal-to-noise ratio of 9 dB at the intermediate frequency.