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IEEE Transactions on Applied Superconductivity

Submillimeter-wave mixing and noise in HTS Josephson junctions

Michael A. Tarasov, Е. А. Степанцов, Dmitry S. Golubev, Z. G. Ivanov, T. Claeson, Oliver Harnack, Marian Darula, S. Beuven, H. Kohlstedt

Published Jun 1, 1999• 8 citations

Abstract

A Josephson quasioptical detector comprising YBaCuO junction on bicrystal MgO substrate, integrated log-periodic Au antenna, MgO extended hyperhemisphere lens attached to the substrate and 1.4 GHz cold amplifier with cold circulator has been designed, fabricated and experimentally studied. We fabricated several integrated Josephson junctions 1-2 /spl mu/m wide which at 4.2 K demonstrate RSJ IV curves with critical currents 100-300 /spl mu/A and normal resistance of 10-20 /spl Omega/. The noise temperature (T/sub N/) at 4.2 K and 330 GHz measured by a hot/cold load method in fundamental mixing mode with external BWO local oscillator brings T/sub N/=1100 K for the junction shunted by low-inductance resistive shunt and T/sub N/=1400 K without shunting. At bath temperatures of 20-40 K the noise temperature was in the range 1500-3000 K, at 50 K the noise temperature was below 2000 K, and at 60-70 K increased over 3000 K in the frequency range 310-586 GHz. The noise temperatures measured in the self-pumping mode vary between 580-2300 K with dc bias in the range 0.1-0.5 mV. The linewidth of Josephson oscillations has been extracted from a selective detector response and IF noise voltage dependence. The measured excess noise can be attributed to shot noise and multiple Andreev reflection in pinholes with Ss'S structure. We observed small subharmonic steps in IV curve and noise dependencies, which are typical for SNS junctions.

DOI: 10.1109/77.783846

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Detectors made from superconducting cuprate YBa/sub 2/Cu/sub 3/O/sub x/ bicrystal Josephson junctions (BJJs) on sapphire and NdGaO/sub 3/ substrates have been fabricated and characterized in the frequency band 200-900 GHz. Junctions on sapphire substrates had a normal state resistance R/sub N//spl ap/15-60 /spl Omega/, and I/sub C/R/sub N/ product up to 2.5 mV at T=4.2 K. Junctions on NdGaO/sub 3/ substrates had lower R/sub N/=1-5 /spl Omega/ and I/sub C/R/sub N/=0.4-0.9 mV at T=77 K. Three types of detecting devices have been investigated in both the broadband and the frequency-selective detection modes. One type was patterned with log-periodic antenna, and two others with Pt-metal double-slot antenna designed for a central frequency f=300 GHz and f=400 GHz, respectively. Measurements at f=320 GHz of the reception bandwidth /spl Delta/f for a device with double-slot antenna gave a quality factor Q=f//spl Delta/f/spl ap/10. A low-noise cooled 1-2 GHz bandwidth amplifier enables a better sensitivity in the self-pumping frequency mixing mode, avoiding the 1/f noise. The dependence of the spectral density of noise on voltage was compared to the data for the Josephson emission linewidth obtained by the selective detector response method. Also discussed are measurements at 500 GHz of the NEP values carried out at different experimental conditions.

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The IV curves and the direct detector response of HTS bicrystal grain-boundary Josephson junctions have been measured under submm-wave irradiation at frequencies 350-750 GHz. The Josephson oscillation spectrum has been measured using the Hilbert transformation of detection response dependence. The Josephson oscillation linewidth and corresponding value of effective noise is compared to the estimates from the dc measurements of noise rounding of IV curve. To separate sources of noise the direct measurements of junction's output noise has been performed at 1.5 GHz and low frequencies 0.5-20 kHz.

A quasioptical Josephson detector with resistively shunted superconducting tunnel junctions of superconductor-insulator-superconductor (SIS) type and different integrated matching circuits for mm waveband region has been designed, fabricated and experimentally studied. A special quasioptical cryogenic probe has been designed and fabricated for measurements of microwave response of such integrated receiving structures. For low-frequency matching a cold transformer has been used at the output port. Many efforts have been made for reducing the external noise influence on Josephson junction IV curve. Quasioptical beamguide has been optimized and adjusted using Bi bolometers evaporated instead of Josephson junctions in the center of planar antenna. Beampatterns of several types of planar antennas, including self-complementary and non-complementary logarithmic spiral and log-periodic antennas, have been measured using the same technique.

We report on experimental studies of the noise performance and conversion efficiency of high-Te Josephson mixers at frequencies between 90 GHz and 550 GHz. The heterodyne mixing experiments have been performed by using YBa2Cu307_8 step-edge junctions and bicrystal junctions on MgO (E--9.6) substrates. We studied the Josephson mixer performance for the case of internal pumping (selfpumping) and external pumping. Receiver noise measurements in a waveg,uide setup for the case of external pumping at 90-94 GHz gave formally calculated double-side-band (DSB) mixer noise temperatures (Tm) of about 2000 K at physical temperatures of 10 K. Similar measurements in a quasioptical setup at 4.2 K and at operation frequencies of 430 GHz and 546 GHz yielded mixer noise temperatures of 1200 K and 1100 K, respectively. Using the internal pumped mode, i.e. mixing without external local oscillator signal, we also obtained clear IF response in hot/cold-measurements. The formally calculated Tm were between 580 K and 2300 K.

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.