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IEEE Transactions on Applied Superconductivity

Phase and Amplitude Modulator for Microwave Pulse Generation

Gordie Brummer, Rizwan Rafique, Thomas Ohki

Published Dec 9, 2010• 8 citations
Publisher

Abstract

We present a microwave amplitude/phase modulation device based on superconducting resonator and synthetic transmission line technology. The primary benefits of this device are agile frequency response for modulation over a 2 GHz bandwidth, low power dissipation and potential for integration with superconducting qubits and high-speed SFQ logic. This device demonstrates phase modulation of$>90^{\circ}$, and amplitude modulation of$\approx 30\ {\rm dB}$in a 2 GHz local oscillator bandwidth. We also show modulation of a 3.5 GHz microwave signal by a Gaussian pulse with$\sigma\approx 4\ {\rm ns}$. The targeted application of this technology is for low power microwave pulse generation for qubit applications. In this paper we present results for the modulator and introduce potential applications in quantum computing.

DOI
10.1109/tasc.2010.2091485

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Superconducting qubits are generally controlled by irradiation with microwave pulses. We propose a 5-GHz-range microwave pulse generator based on pulse density modulation for controlling qubits using single-flux-quantum (SFQ) circuits. The proposed microwave pulse generator comprises a 100-GHz circular shift register and a band-pass filter (BPF). In this study, we investigated the relationship between the target envelope of the microwave amplitude and the SFQ pulse density based on the transfer function for the BPF and the frequency spectrum of an SFQ pulse. We implemented a 64-bit circular shift register and demonstrated its operation up to 68 GHz.
Abstract To achieve large-scale quantum processors, cryogenic quantum-bit (qubit) interface circuits that can control qubits inside a dilution refrigerator are indispensable. Superconducting single-flux quantum (SFQ) circuits are a promising building block for qubit interface circuits because SFQ circuits can operate with high clock frequencies and low power dissipation. In the present study, we developed an SFQ-based qubit interface circuit that we refer to as a pulse-pair microwave pulse generator (PP-MPG). The PP-MPG can generate microwave pulses for qubit control, with the microwave amplitude controlled based on the delay between paired SFQ pulses. By finely adjusting the delay with delay controlling circuits, the microwave amplitude can be controlled over a wide range. We fabricated a PP-MPG chip and tested it at 4.2 K, showing that the microwave amplitude can be controlled over a range of approximately 30 dB. Our results show that the PP-MPG has the potential for use in future large-scale quantum processors.
Coherent circuits based on superconducting elements hold tremendous promise for the practical implementation of quantum information technology: advanced computation, cryptography, and hardware simulation of complex materials systems are envisioned applications. Such circuits are essentially engineered atoms with level transitions in the 4-8 GHz regime; as such “read” and “write” operations are performed with the aid of fast microwave pulses and low-noise amplifiers, respectively. Recent advances in cavity-based superconducting parametric amplifiers have enabled real-time measurement and feedback in one and two qubits. We demonstrate a novel Josephson junction transmission-line based traveling-wave amplifier which employs sub-wavelength phase matching resonators to achieve high gain, several GHz of bandwidth, and near quantum-noise limited performance. Such devices will enable multiplexed qubit readout in integrated architectures comprised of a variety of microwave frequency analog and digital superconducting technologies: signal sources, multiplexers, ADCs, DACs, mixers, and amplifiers.
Abstract We propose a superconducting ring-oscillator-based SFQ microwave burst generator for scalable cryogenic qubit control. The scheme locally generates high-speed SFQ pulse trains on chip, reducing the need for high-frequency microwave input lines from room temperature. The implemented circuit occupies an area of approximately 0.7 mm×0.7 mm, excluding the TFF array used for low-speed verification, and its static power dissipation is estimated to be 1.14 μW. To suppress timing deviations accumulated in the ring oscillator, corrective pulses are inserted into the generated pulse sequence through low-speed control signals. Continuous-wave measurements verify basic microwave generation, while burst-mode experiments show that properly timed corrective pulses improve firstsideband symmetry and enhance the carrier peak power. Reference-based detrended TIE simulations further verify the existence of effective corrective timing windows in which the residual timing error is reduced below the without-corrective reference. These results indicate that corrective-pulse-assisted SFQ ring oscillators provide a compact and low-power approach for local microwave burst generation in cryogenic qubit-control systems.
Frequency combs represent exceptionally precise measurement tools due to the coherence of their spectral lines. While optical frequency comb sources constitute a well-established technology, superconducting circuits provide a relatively unexplored on-chip platform for low-dissipation comb emitters able to span from gigahertz to terahertz frequencies. We demonstrate coherent microwave frequency comb generation by leveraging the ac Josephson effect in a superconducting quantum interference device. A time-dependent magnetic drive periodically generates voltage pulses, which in the frequency domain correspond to a comb with dozens of spectral modes here reported up to mode 46. The emitted power at the device level ranges from -170 dBm to -130 dBm per harmonic, corresponding to 40 dB dynamic range in the 4-8 GHz bandwidth. The micrometer-scale footprint and minimal dissipation inherent to superconducting systems foster the integration of our comb generator with advanced cryogenic electronics. Transferring optical techniques to the solid-state domain may enable new applications in quantum technologies.