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Superconductor Science and Technology

Heterodyne mixing with a sandwich-type Josephson junction using a Bi-based high- oxide superconductor

K Mizuno, Hidetaka Higashino, Kentaro Setsune

Published Apr 1, 1996• 2 citations
Publisher

Abstract

A sandwich-type high- Josephson junction coupled with a coplanar-type transmission line was fabricated and heterodyne mixing characteristics were investigated. The junction was fabricated from a stacked film structure of (BSCCO/BSNCO/BSCCO) and the transmission line was made of sputter-deposited Pt film. The junction had a rectangular shape of . Current - voltage (I - V) curves of the junction showed weak-link-type characteristics. Two microwave sources of a frequency synthesizer and a sweep oscillator were used as a local oscillator (LO: 20 GHz) and a radio frequency signal source (RF: 19 GHz) for heterodyne mixing experiments. Intermediate signal (IF: 1 GHz) was transmitted through the transmission line and detected by a power meter. The conversion efficiency of -44 dB was estimated for an LO oscillator level of -23 dB m at 5.7 K when the junction was biased at the point below the first Shapiro step.

DOI
10.1088/0953-2048/9/4a/033

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A sandwich-type high- Josephson junction coupled with a coplanar-type transmission line was fabricated and heterodyne mixing characteristics were investigated. The junction was fabricated from a stacked film structure of (BSCCO/BSNCO/BSCCO) and the transmission line was made of sputter-deposited Pt film. The junction had a rectangular shape of . Current - voltage (I - V) curves of the junction showed weak-link-type characteristics. Two microwave sources of a frequency synthesizer and a sweep oscillator were used as a local oscillator (LO: 20 GHz) and a radio frequency signal source (RF: 19 GHz) for heterodyne mixing experiments. Intermediate signal (IF: 1 GHz) was transmitted through the transmission line and detected by a power meter. The conversion efficiency of -44 dB was estimated for an LO oscillator level of -23 dB m at 5.7 K when the junction was biased at the point below the first Shapiro step.
Planar S/N/S Josephson junctions were successfully fabricated by multi-layered thin films of Bi-based high-Tc oxide superconductors. Two Bi2Sr2Ca1Cu2O(x) films and Bi2Sr2Cu1O(y) film were successively layered as superconducting electrodes and normal conducting buffer layer, respectively. These films were epitaxially deposited on (100) MgO substrate by in situ process of RF magnetron sputtering. Microjunction areas were defined by photolithography and Ar ion milling. These S/N/S type junctions clearly exhibited the AC Josephson effect under the irradiation of radio frequency waves of 12 GHz. More than 20th Shapiro steps were observed and those step heights were oscillated according to the irradiation power. These characteristics were stable and reproducible for different configuration of function area.
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Current-voltage characteristics and microwave mixing properties of step-edge microbridge Josephson junctions (SEJJs) made of YBaCuO thin films were systematically investigated. The step-edge was formed on the surface of a MgO(100) substrate employing the common photolithograph and wet-etching techniques. YBaCuO thin film was deposited by the off-axis sputtering method, and the microbridge junctions were fabricated so as to cross the step-edge. The SEJJs showed typical DC and AC characteristics which were explained by the resistively shunted junction (RSJ) model. Mixing experiments were carried out in the K-band microwave region. An intermediate frequency (IF) output with the frequency range of 20 MHz∼2.0 GHz was successfully obtained.
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.>
We report on the mixing properties of high-T, superconductor (HTS) Josephson junctions. Direct radiation and heterodyne mixing experiments in the frequency range 78 GHz-119 GHz have been performed using YBa 2Cu30 7_ x (YBCO) step-edge junctions (SEJ) and bicrystal junctions (BO) on LaA10 3 and MgO substrates. Under external radiation our junctions showed harmonic phase synchronization (Shapiro steps) up to 1.88 THz. Junctions with current voltage characteristics (PVC) dose to predictions of the resistively shunted junction model (RSJ) were mounted into a heterodyne mixing setup. Under the radiation of two monochromatic signals we obtained conversion efficiencies around -14 dB in the 11 GHz intermediate frequency (IF) band. In the fundamental mixing regime we observed response at IF at working temperatures up to 72K. We demonstrated the operation of HTS Josephson junctions in the self-mixing mode. The experimental results are in good agreement with simulations using the RSJ model.
A high-temperature superconducting (HTS) terahertz (THz) heterodyne mixer based on a thin-film antenna-coupled YBa2Cu3O7-xstep-edge Josephson junction is presented. The frequency down-conversion from 0.6 THz to an intermediate frequency (IF) of 2 GHz was achieved using high-order harmonic mixing of a local oscillator (LO), thus removing the need to use a second THz source as the LO pumping source. The DC and RF characteristics of the harmonic mixer as well as the relationship of the IF output power versus the harmonic number were experimentally studied and compared with simulated results. Most of our measurements were made at 40 K, but we also observed stable harmonic mixing at 77 K which we believe has not been reported previously in HTS junction mixers.