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IEEE Transactions on Applied Superconductivity

High-frequency properties of two-dimensional Josephson junction arrays

A. B. Cawthorne, Paola Barbara, Christopher J. Lobb

Published Jun 1, 1997• 14 citations
Publisher

Abstract

Two-dimensional arrays of Josephson junctions have been shown to operate in a state in which the microwave oscillations of the junctions are phase-coherent. However, the performance of an array is strongly dependent on both the details of the load-coupling circuit and the characteristic parameters of the junctions. We have measured two-dimensional arrays of resistively shunted Josephson tunnel junctions which are capacitively coupled to a nearby detector junction. Changing the critical current of the junctions in our arrays, while keeping the junction parasitics and array coupling roughly the same, results in an unexpected change in device operation. We have also investigated variations of the coupling circuit. Numerical simulations of the detection circuit enable us to estimate the power output from the array and to optimize the parameters of the system.

DOI
10.1109/77.622109

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Applied Physics Letters•Jun 16, 1997•8 citations
Two-dimensional arrays of Josephson junctions have been shown to operate in a state in which the microwave oscillations of the junctions are phase-coherent. However, the performance of an array is strongly dependent on both the details of the load-coupling circuit and the characteristic parameters of the junctions. We have measured two-dimensional arrays of resistively shunted Josephson tunnel junctions which are capacitively coupled to a nearby detector junction. Changing the critical current of the junctions in our arrays, while keeping the junction parasitics and array coupling roughly the same, results in an unexpected change in device operation. We have also investigated variations of the coupling circuit. Numerical simulations of the detection circuit enable us to estimate the power output from the array and to optimize the parameters of the system.
This thesis is devoted to some selected applications of the Josephson junction oscillator. The initial work was performed using low-Tc Nb/PbBi tunnel junctions, while the later parts were done using the recently developed high-Tc YBa2Cu3O7 (YBCO) Josephson junctions. The latter junctions have raised the hope for Josephson oscillator applications with substantially increased operation frequencies and temperatures. In the first part of this thesis the use of inductor-resistor (LR) shunted tunnel junctions in arrays of phase locked Josephson junction oscillators was investigated. The LR shunt is designed to resonate out the intrinsic tunnel junction capacitance at the operation frequency. We show that LR shunted tunnel junctions have important advantages compared to the commonly used resistively shunted tunnel junctions; i.e. narrower linewidths, higher impedance of the junctions and that they can be optimized also at frequencies higher than about 100 GHz. Design rules for stable, non-chaotic oscillations with optimized output power were developed. Measurements on a non- optimized circuit show that oscillator arrays of LR shunted tunnel junctions can generate substantial power, ~10 nW to a 300 .OMEGA. load at 390 GHz from a 10 junction array. In the second part the phase locking of YBCO Josephson junctions was clearly demonstrated for the first time. Mutual phase locking of two junctions was observed at frequencies between 0.2 and 1 THz, and was only limited by the bandwidth of the coupling circuit. The locking was in good agreement with simulations based on the resistively shunted junction model. The interaction of a single Josephson junction with a 5 junction oscillator array was also measured at frequencies up to about 350 GHz, but was substantially reduced by the high losses of the coupling circuit. The YBCO Josephson junctions were found to be interesting candidates for microwave generation at frequencies approaching 1 THz and oscillator arrays to be mainly limited by the high losses of the coupling circuits at these frequencies. In the third part the interaction of YBCO Josephson junctions with integrated resonators were studied for the first time. Using a novel method, Josephson Broadband Spectroscopy (JOBS), the high frequency properties of the resonators were measured with a bandwidth of up to 1 THz and in the temperature range 4-77 K. The YBCO surface resistance (9 m.OMEGA. at 4 K and 100 GHz) was found to scale as f2 and had a temperature dependence in good agreement with the two-fluid model, modified with 18% non-pairing charge carriers. The YBCO London penetration depth was frequency independent (460 nm at 4 K) and had a temperature dependence in agreement with the two-fluid model.
We have investigated two-dimensional arrays of overdamped Josephson junctions that have been fabricated in Nb/Al/sub 2/O/sub 3//Nb-technology, together with microwave coupling structures. Different arrays have shown to emit coherent microwave radiation by using microwave-coupled on-chip detectors. Low-temperature scanning electron microscopy is used to study the coupling of the microwave radiation to an on-chip load. From the appearance of Shapiro steps in the current vs. voltage curves of detector junctions for different degrees of disorder in the array-junctions, margins of the spread in the critical currents of the Josephson junctions for coherent oscillation can be drawn.
The authors have detected coherent emission from two-dimensional (2D) arrays of superconductor-insulator-superconductor (SIS) Josephson junctions. 2D arrays emit coherent radiation over a frequency range of 60 to 210 GHz, when coupled to detector junctions through DC-blocking capacitors. The detector junctions exhibit Shapiro steps at frequencies corresponding to the voltage across single-array junctions. The maximum power from a 10-by-10 junction-array coupled to a detector junction occurs at 150 GHz and is estimated to be 0.4 mu W, based on simulations of the detector circuit. By varying the number of array junctions, the array geometry, the junction critical current, and the coupling circuit, they have begun determining the essential conditions for observing coherent emission.
Josephson junctions (JJs) with non-hysteretic I-V characteristic and high critical parameters are required for many applications; in particular, they are needed to create tunable THz range oscillators. We fabricated and studied shunted superconductor-insulator-superconductor (SIS) Nb-AlOx-Nb tunnel junctions with an area of about 1μm2, estimated their parameters, and compared them with theoretical models. To assess the performance of shunted junctions in the terahertz range, their characteristics were studied under the influence of a high-frequency signal; the estimated value of the characteristic voltage for the shunted junction at a high frequency is about 1 mV. To improve the circuit parameters, a new type of the shunting based on application of NIS junctions was proposed, which reduces the influence of parasitic inductance, expands the frequency range of the generator, and decreases the size of the structure. The JJs with a new type of shunting have been fabricated and studied. The niobium integrated circuits intended for matching the superconducting oscillator and an SIS junction as a microwave detector were designed, fabricated, and tested. Such structures are required for studying the spectral characteristics and analyzing the operation of the oscillator. The developed circuits have demonstrated efficient operation at frequencies from 300 to 700 GHz; the experimental results are in good agreement with the simulated characteristics. The results obtained will be implemented for further development of the THz range oscillators.
Progress in understanding the mechanism of coherent oscillation in twodimensional (2-D) Josephson junction arrays has been made through analysis of the coupling circuit between two Josephson junctions. For a 2-D array to oscillate in phase, capacitive coupling is required for adjacent junctions in the same row and inductive coupling for adjacent junctions in the same column of the array. Computer simulation has been developed for two junctions coupled through a general circuit to find the optimum coupling between two junctions. The junctions in the array are also integrated with inductive tuning elements to tune out the junctions' parasitic capacitance. We have built 2-D Josephson junction arrays but no coherent oscillation has yet been observed.
A high temperature superconducting YBa2Cu3Oy array of five Josephson junctions designed with additional coupling lines has been developed to demonstrate the effects of frequency locking and impedance matching for applications such as oscillators, mixers, and detectors. The Josephson self-radiation power was directly detected by a superheterodyne receiver, and Shapiro steps were also measured. The Josephson self-radiation properties reveal good quality of phase locking and microwave coupling with external circuits. The maximum self-radiation power of our array is about 50 pW which is several ten times higher than that of a single Josephson junction, and its peak point exactly satisfies the Josephson current-voltage relation. The Shapiro-step measurements show that the behavior of current-voltage curve depends on the effective inductance of coupling lines which affects the total impedance of Josephson junction array and microwave coupling. The Josephson oscillation frequency was obtained up to about 880 GHz which is 73% of the maximum available frequency calculated from the characteristic voltage of the Josephson junctions. Experimental results show that this type of Josephson junction array can improve the Josephson self-radiation power and increase the maximum detectable frequency.