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IEEE Transactions on Applied Superconductivity

Improved sensitivity of planar microwave based RF-SQUIDs using a cryogenic HEMT preamplifier

Giorgio Fontana, R. Mezzena, Stefano Vitale, MASSIMO CERDONIO, Michael Mück, G. Hallmanns, Christoph Heiden

Published Mar 1, 1993• 5 citations
Publisher

Abstract

The design and performance of a planar microwave RF-SQUID (superconducting quantum interference device) read out by a cryogenic high-electron-mobility-transistor (HEMT) preamplifier are described. The SQUID sensor consists of a planar half-wavelength microstrip resonator, into which the SQUID loop is integrated. The SQUID is operated at a pump frequency of 1.7 GHz. The cryogenic preamplifier uses a microwave 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 K and 1.5 K. In an open loop, a flux noise of 2*10/sup -6/ Phi /sub 0// square root Hz was measured at 4.2 K, resulting in an energy resolution of about 100 h. The design of a 3-GHz magnetometer is also described, and the preliminary results of the measurements are reported.>

DOI
10.1109/77.233328

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Review of Scientific Instruments•Jun 1, 2006•0 citations
The design and performance of a planar microwave RF-SQUID (superconducting quantum interference device) read out by a cryogenic high-electron-mobility-transistor (HEMT) preamplifier are described. The SQUID sensor consists of a planar half-wavelength microstrip resonator, into which the SQUID loop is integrated. The SQUID is operated at a pump frequency of 1.7 GHz. The cryogenic preamplifier uses a microwave 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 K and 1.5 K. In an open loop, a flux noise of 2*10/sup -6/ Phi /sub 0// square root Hz was measured at 4.2 K, resulting in an energy resolution of about 100 h. The design of a 3-GHz magnetometer is also described, and the preliminary results of the measurements are reported.>
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.
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.
We describe a superconducting quantum interference device (SQUID) multiplexer operated at microwave frequencies. The outputs of multiple SQUIDs are simultaneously modulated at different frequencies and summed into the input of one high electron mobility transistor (HEMT). The large bandwidth and dynamic range provided by HEMT amplifiers should make it possible to frequency-division multiplex a large number of SQUIDs in one output coaxial cable. We measure low SQUID noise (∼0.5μΦ0∕Hz at 4K) and demonstrate the multiplexed readout of two direct current (dc) SQUIDs at different resonant frequencies. In this work, dc SQUIDs are used, but this approach is equally applicable to radio-frequency SQUIDs.
White noise of dissipationless microwave radio frequency superconducting quantum interference device (RF-SQUID) multiplexers has been experimentally studied to evaluate their readout performance for transition edge sensor (TES) photon counters ranging from near infrared to gamma ray. The characterization has been carried out at 4 K, first to avoid the low-frequency fluctuations present at around 0.1 K, and second, for a feasibility study of readout operation at 4 K for extended applications. To increase the resonant Q at 4 K and maintain low noise SQUID operation, multiplexer chips consisting of niobium nitride (NbN)-based coplanar-waveguide resonators and niobium (Nb)-based RF-SQUIDs have been developed. This hybrid multiplexer exhibited 1 × 104 ≤ Q ≤ 2 × 104 and the square root of spectral density of current noise referred to the SQUID input √SI = 31 pA/√Hz. The former and the latter are factor-of-five and seven improvements from our previous results on Nb-based resonators, respectively. Two-directional readout on the complex plane of the transmission component of scattering matrix S21 enables us to distinguish the flux noise from noise originating from other sources, such as the cryogenic high electron mobility transistor (HEMT) amplifier. Systematic noise measurements with various microwave readout powers PMR make it possible to distinguish the contribution of noise sources within the system as follows: (1) The achieved √SI is dominated by the Nyquist noise from a resistor at 4 K in parallel to the SQUID input coil which is present to prevent microwave leakage to the TES. (2) The next dominant source is either the HEMT-amplifier noise (for small values of PMR) or the quantization noise due to the resolution of 300-K electronics (for large values of PMR). By a decrease of these noise levels to a degree that is achievable by current technology, we predict that the microwave RF-SQUID multiplexer can exhibit √SI ≤ 5 pA/√Hz, i.e., close to √SI of state-of-the-art DC-SQUID-based multiplexers.
We describe the fabrication and characterization of super Schottky diodes which are used in the cryogenic part of a 3 GHz radio frequency superconducting quantum interference device (rf SQUID) readout electronics. The diodes were prepared on silicon wafers with an n-doping level of 5×1024 m−3. They exhibited sensitivities of 1500 V−1 at 4.2 K, and a noise equivalent power of 2×10−15 W/√Hz was measured at 2.1 GHz. Using planar niobium 3 GHz rf SQUIDs and a cooled rf amplifier, experiments have been performed to investigate the feasibility of these super Schottky diodes for demodulation of the SQUID rf signal voltage. A simple cryogenic rf SQUID readout, employing two transistors and one super Schottky diode is described and investigated. Flux noise measurements in an open loop have been performed using this readout.
A high-TC rf superconducting quantum interference device (SQUID) readout with a cryogenic preamplifier was developed. The noise figure of the preamplifier at 350MHz was about 0.92dB at room temperature and 0.35dB at 77K. For a high-TC yttrium barium copper oxide rf SQUID coupled with a lumped element tank circuit with a resonant frequency of about 360MHz, the white flux noise was about 25μΦ0∕√Hz and 22μΦ0∕√Hz when the preamplifier was at room temperature and at 77K, respectively. The flux noise was only reduced by about 12% using the cryogenic preamplifier. As the thermal noise of the SQUID and the noise generated by the tank circuit are already higher than the preamplifier noise, cooling the preamplifier has only a small effect of the system noise, when the SQUID is operated at 77K. Lower operating temperatures, e.g., when using a SQUID made from MgB2, might justify the use of a cooled preamplifier.