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Modern Physics Letters B

rf PUMPED SQUID WITH LARGE OUTPUT SIGNAL

G.S. Krivoy, V. A. Komashko

Published Feb 28, 1991• 5 citations
Publisher

Abstract

The dc SQUID had been presented for use in the rf SQUID instead of a weak link. The new device, referred to as “double SQUID”, possesses a large output signal (hundreds of microvolts) in operating in a hysteretic mode. For making an operating mode a double SQUID is coupled to a circuit traditional for rf SQUIDs containing a tank circuit and an rf current pumping generator. The magnetic flux being measured is recognized by the dc SQUID quantization loop which results in changing its critical current. As a result the height of the flat part of the tank circuit I–V characteristics coupled to a double SQUID is modulated. It is this modulation that is the SQUID output signal. The experimental investigations of the double SQUID showed the validity of the assumptions under consideration. Output signals up to 690 μV, noise spectral density ≈2×10−5ϕ0/ Hz 1/2 (ϕ0 is the flux quantum) and energy resolution ≈1.4×10−29 J/Hz have been obtained.

DOI
10.1142/s0217984991000435

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IEEE Transactions on Applied Superconductivity•Jun 1, 1999•1 citation
The dc SQUID had been presented for use in the rf SQUID instead of a weak link. The new device, referred to as “double SQUID”, possesses a large output signal (hundreds of microvolts) in operating in a hysteretic mode. For making an operating mode a double SQUID is coupled to a circuit traditional for rf SQUIDs containing a tank circuit and an rf current pumping generator. The magnetic flux being measured is recognized by the dc SQUID quantization loop which results in changing its critical current. As a result the height of the flat part of the tank circuit I–V characteristics coupled to a double SQUID is modulated. It is this modulation that is the SQUID output signal. The experimental investigations of the double SQUID showed the validity of the assumptions under consideration. Output signals up to 690 μV, noise spectral density ≈2×10−5ϕ0/ Hz 1/2 (ϕ0 is the flux quantum) and energy resolution ≈1.4×10−29 J/Hz have been obtained.
Conventional rf SQUIDs (superconducting quantum interference devices) consist of a superconducting loop interrupted by one weak link, and when read out via a tank circuit they produce output signals in the order of a few tens of microvolts. When the single weak link is replaced by a dc SQUID (a superconducting loop with two junctions) a so-called double quantization loop SQUID is formed. In this paper it is shown theoretically, and supported experimentally with thin-film devices of three different designs, that the general behaviour can be explained by a simplified picture of the fixed critical current of the single junction of the rf SQUID being replaced by an effective critical current of a dc SQUID loop that is varied by the applied magnetic flux (i.e., we have a rf SQUID with a variable β parameter). A more detailed analysis of the experimental data and the theory of this novel device reveals its interesting nonlinear character and shows the deviations from this simple picture. It is demonstrated experimentally that output signals in the order of ≥1 mV can be obtained with a suitable read-out mode for the tank circuit, a clear advantage when compared to conventional rf SQUIDs. With respect to dc SQUIDs, the coupling to integrated planar input coils will be unproblematic since no microwave resonances should occur in the structures.
We have realized a hysteretic dc SQUID to measure the flux states of a rf SQUID inductively coupled to the hysteretic dc SQUID. This type of measurement is required whenever is necessary to make a non invasive measure of the state of the rf SQUID. This is the case of measurements of macroscopic quantum coherence or measurements on q-bits systems. With the proposed set up the hysteretic dc SQUID can switch from the superconducting to the normal state depending on the total applied magnetic flux. On this system we measured at 4.2 K the change on the switching probability of the dc SQUID by varying the flux state of the rf SQUID. The experimental results agree very well with the theoretical predictions showing that this device can be used to perform non invasive measurements of the rf SQUID flux state.
Two new SQUID variants have been made and tested using nanobridges as Josephson contacts. The first is a dc SQUID whose hysteretic weak links are inductively shunted such that it operates as a relaxation oscillator with a frequency depending on the applied magnetic flux. When standard ICs are used for FM detection, the readout electronics are cheap and compact, of the size of a matchbox. The second variant is a microwave-biased rf SQUID incorporated into a λ/2 stripline resonator, which is capacitively coupled to a coaxial cable leading to the room-temperature electronics. Peak-to-peak modulation voltages of several hundred μV were obtained in the investigated frequency range of 3 to 4.2 GHz. For both SQUID variants, white flux noise values of some 10−5Φ0/Hz1/2 have been found.
The superconducting quantum interferometer with two quantization loops, the so-called double SQUID, or D-SQUID, is a modification of the well-known rf SQUID. The modification consists of a replacement of the one junction of the rf SQUID by a superconducting loop with two Josephson junctions. This device can be used to transform the weak magnetic flux applied to the loop with junctions to a voltage across the tank circuit inductively coupled to the other loop. As has previously been shown in experiments [G. S. Krivoy and H. Koch, J. Appl. Phys. 74, 2925 (1993)], D-SQUIDs have an extremely large output signal swing up to 1 mV and a transfer function of several mV/(h/2e). In this paper, a D-SQUID theory using a numerical and an analytical approach is developed. The theoretical results are compared with the above-mentioned experiments.
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.
The dynamics and noise of a dc SQUID (the Superconducting Quantum Interference Device), with the McCumber parameter /spl beta//sub c/=2/spl pi/R/sup 2/l/sub c/C//spl Phi//sub 0/ close to the unity (where I/sub c/, R, C is the critical current, the shunt resistance and the capacitance of the Josephson junctions comprising the SQUID, respectively, /spl Phi//sub 0/=2.07 10/sup -15/ Wb is the magnetic flux quantum) integrated with a planar spiral input coil, have been experimentally studied. The length of the spiral input coil was chosen so as to match its /spl lambda//4 microwave resonance frequency to the plasma resonance frequency of the SQUID. The input coil resonance is found to enhance the overall quality factor Q of the Josephson oscillations in the SQUID and, as a result, to increase the dynamic resistance R/sub d/ and the gradient of the flux-to-voltage characteristics, /spl delta/V//spl delta//spl Phi/, without hysteresis. A dc SQUID with a loop inductance L=30.5 pH, /spl beta//sub c/=0.72, and a 6 turn input coil demonstrated a non-distorted quasi-sinusoidal flux-to-voltage transfer function with an exceptionally large modulation depth of 140 /spl mu/V peak-to-peak. The spectral density of the magnetic flux noise was as low as 3.5/spl times/10/sup -7/ /spl Phi//sub 0//Hz/sup 1/2/ in the double stage configuration, measured at a temperature 4.2 K using direct read out electronics. In combination with an intermediary transformer, the current resolution of the SQUID is as low as 1.25 pA/Hz/sup 1/2/ with an input coil inductance of 100 nH.