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IEEE Transactions on Applied Superconductivity

Design and performance of a velocity-matched broadband optical modulator with superconducting electrodes

Keiji Yoshida, T. Uchida, S. Nishioka, Y. Kanda, Satoshi Kohjiro

Published Jun 1, 1999• 2 citations
Publisher

Abstract

The performance of a LiNbO/sub 3/ optical modulator employing superconducting electrodes as a transmission line for a traveling-wave signal has been studied theoretically as well as experimentally. In the case of velocity matching between signal and optical waves using a shielding plane on top of a coplanar waveguide, numerical calculations of the attenuation constants of both superconducting and normal-conducting transmission lines indicate that the performance of the optical modulator can be far superior to that using normal-metals with respect to the figure of merit of bandwidth/driving-voltage. Microwave operation of a velocity-matched traveling-wave-type optical modulator with superconductor electrodes (NbN) has been successfully demonstrated. In the frequency range between dc and 26.5 [GHz] it is shown that the obtained modulation depth is in good agreement with the theoretically expected one.

DOI
10.1109/77.783764

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The performance of a LiNbO/sub 3/ optical modulator employing superconducting electrodes as a transmission line for a traveling-wave signal has been studied theoretically as well as experimentally. In the case of velocity matching between signal and optical waves using a shielding plane on top of a coplanar waveguide, numerical calculations of the attenuation constants of both superconducting and normal-conducting transmission lines indicate that the performance of the optical modulator can be far superior to that using normal-metals with respect to the figure of merit of bandwidth/driving-voltage. Microwave operation of a velocity-matched traveling-wave-type optical modulator with superconductor electrodes (NbN) has been successfully demonstrated. In the frequency range between dc and 26.5 [GHz] it is shown that the obtained modulation depth is in good agreement with the theoretically expected one.
The design and performance of a LiNbO/sub 3/ optical modulator and switch, which employ superconducting circuits, have been studied. Based on a novel design method of the booster circuit using superconducting coplanar waveguide transmission lines, we designed a voltage amplifier with center frequency of 10 GHz, bandwidth of 5 MHz, and the voltage gain of 33 dB using an electromagnetic wave simulator. We also designed a high speed optical switch combining optical directional coupler and Mach-Zehnder interferometer. A preliminary experiment with YBCO electrode on MgO substrate flip-chip-bonded on LiNbO/sub 3/ optical waveguide has been made.
Traveling-wave parametric amplifiers may be fabricated from superconducting films that exhibit highly nonlinear kinetic inductance. The coplanar waveguide of such a microwave device, extending to a meter or more in length but compacted to reside on a chip of the order of a square centimeter, is engineered with periodic variations in its width. These width variations, or loadings, alter the dispersion characteristics of a nonlinear current propagating along the waveguide, changing its group velocity and modulation behavior. A strong pump and a small signal injected into one end of the waveguide mix parametrically in the presence of the nonlinear kinetic inductance. Engineered dispersion induces the favorable conditions of overall phase matching, leading to generation of idler products as well as signal amplification of wide bandwidth, high dynamic range, and low noise, making the device of particular use in quantum computing and photon detection. The authors present a theoretical framework in which signal gain may be calculated solely from loading design. This involves construction of a metamaterial band theory of the engineered dispersion, which is used as a basis to describe the mixing of nonlinear traveling waves.
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This paper reports the design, fabrication, and measurements of optically tunable superconducting microwave resonators and delay lines. The devices are comprised of superconducting coplanar waveguide (CPW) transmission lines fabricated from a 100 nm-thick YBCO film, interrupted by 3- and 5-m YBCO meander structures of the same thickness on top of an LAO substrate. The CPW is tested at 77 K up to a frequency of 50 GHz, where it exhibits a transmission loss of about 0.12 dB/mm. The measurements are done in a cryogenic microwave probe station, where all the calibrations have been performed at 77 K. It has been observed that the resonance frequencies of the superconducting resonators can be changed by more than 2 GHz under the optical illumination at a wavelength of 1550 nm. The delay lines also exhibit a phase retardation of up to 90 at the same operating conditions.
Superconducting integrated circuits based on NbTiN/Al transmission lines at frequencies up to 1.1 THz have been developed and experimentally studied. Numerical modeling of two microcircuit topologies with an operating frequency range of 0.9…1.2 THz, containing a slot antenna, made in a thin NbTiN film and matched in output to a microstrip transmission line, and a tunnel junction of the “superconductor–insulator–superconductor” (SIS) type with an area of the order of 1 μm^2, acting as a terahertz detector. Experimental samples of the microcircuit were manufactured and tested; in the experimental setup, a backward wave lamp (BWL) with an output frequency of up to 1.1 THz was used as a source. A powerful pumping of the SIS detector was obtained, thereby demonstrating the applicability of the manufactured NbTiN/Al transmission lines for operation in superconducting circuits at frequencies above 750 GHz, where traditionally used Nb/Nb transmission lines do not operate due to high attenuation.