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IEEE Transactions on Applied Superconductivity

Large RF-controlled voltage steps in DC SQUIDs applicable to voltage standards and sources

G.S. Lee, H.L. Ho, Rich Ruby, Andrew T. Barfknecht

Published Mar 1, 1993• 16 citations
Publisher

Abstract

The current height of RF-induced voltage steps in nonhysteretic single Josephson junctions is usually a small fraction of the critical current. It is demonstrated that when a resistively shunted DC superconducting quantum interference device (SQUID) is subjected to an RF magnetic flux, a voltage step with a large current height is obtained. In contrast to weak selection rules for single Josephson junctions, strong selection of the step harmonic number occurs in a shunted DC SQUID for appropriate choice of RF amplitude and DC flux offset, with odd harmonic numbers selected by half-integer flux quantum offsets and even harmonic numbers by integer flux quantum offsets. This pronounced effect has immediate implications for voltage standards and fast, high-precision digital-to-analog converters.>

DOI
10.1109/77.233514

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The current height of RF-induced voltage steps in nonhysteretic single Josephson junctions is usually a small fraction of the critical current. It is demonstrated that when a resistively shunted DC superconducting quantum interference device (SQUID) is subjected to an RF magnetic flux, a voltage step with a large current height is obtained. In contrast to weak selection rules for single Josephson junctions, strong selection of the step harmonic number occurs in a shunted DC SQUID for appropriate choice of RF amplitude and DC flux offset, with odd harmonic numbers selected by half-integer flux quantum offsets and even harmonic numbers by integer flux quantum offsets. This pronounced effect has immediate implications for voltage standards and fast, high-precision digital-to-analog converters.>
We have been studying an RF-Field-driven DC SQUID (RFDS) that exhibits RF-induced-current-steps larger than those of single junctions at lower normalized frequency and a strong selection rule for the step orders which depends on the external DC magnetic field. In RFDS, even order steps are dominant in the absence of DC magnetic field. Contrarily, a DC magnetic field of a half flux quantum dominantly enhances odd order steps. Therefore the output of an RFDS can be switched between two voltage levels corresponding to the RF-induced-step by an external DC field input for a certain bias condition. We carried out numerical simulations to characterize the switching properties of the RFDS for various bias conditions, including RF circulating currents and DC bias current.
Quantized voltage across the unbiased terminals of a bicrystal YBa 2 Cu 3 O 7 dc SQUID exposed to microwave radiation has been observed at 77 K. Using this voltage as an indication of the microwave power coupled to the junctions, we identified three distinct regions in the I – V curves as the microwave power was tuned, similar to those reported for low- T c SQUID. Pronounced double period steps were observed when the microwave radiation power was high enough to suppress the dc Josephson current completely. Half-integer steps also appeared as the applied dc-magnetic flux was close to half-integers of flux quanta. The experimental phenomenon was explained based on the resistively shunted Josephson junction model.
Shapiro steps in an RF-field-driven dc-SQUID (RFDS), where an RF signal is coupled to the SQUID loop magnetically, are numerically investigated. We calculate the current–voltage characteristics of RFDSs under no dc offset flux, which show the enhancement of the even-order Shapiro steps. First, the maximum second (the lowest even-order) step height is evaluated as a function of the normalized frequency Ω. In the case of the inductance parameter βL ≥ 1.0, the maximum second step height is maintained at a certain value in the low frequency region. In the case of βL < 1.0, on the other hand, the maximum step height decreases in the low frequency region of Ω < 0.10. The dependence of the current positions of the step upon the RF signal amplitude shows that the voltage transition at the non-superconductive area between the superconducting interference lobes limits the upper current position of the step.
We have fabricated Y1Ba2Cu3O7−x step-edge junction dc superconducting quantum interference devices (SQUIDs) and characterized their noise performance. The current-voltage characteristics of our SQUIDs are of resistively shunted junction type with critical current densities jc of about 104 A/cm2 and maximum flux to voltage transfer functions δV/δΦ of 20 μV/Φ0 at 77 K. We compare model predictions for 1/f noise in dc SQUIDs with experimental data and show that the frequency dependent noise in our devices results from critical current fluctuations of the Josephson junctions. A bias current reversing technique is effective in suppressing this noise contribution. A flux noise Φn of 80 μΦ0/Hz1/2 at 1 Hz and 77 K was measured on a dc SQUID with an inductance Ls of 60 pH.
We report the development of a fabrication process of high-resistance step-edge Josephson junctions on sharp argon ion beam etched substrate steps. For a reproducible fabrication, the redeposition of material at the step during the etch process has to be avoided. This is achieved by an alternating angle of ion incidence parallel to the edge of the photoresist mask. The reproducible straight step profile exhibits an angle around and is reflected in reproducible electrical properties of the junctions. Critical current and asymptotic normal state resistance both scale with the junction width w . The current-voltage ( I - V ) characteristics depend on the ratio of film thickness t to step height h . For > 0.85 they are flux-flow-like; for < 0.8 they correspond to the resistively shunted junction (RSJ) model. Lower ratios of correspond to higher specific resistances resulting at 77 K typically in asymptotic normal state resistances between 5 and per junction, depending on w . At 77 K we achieve products of more than . The junctions are applied to dc superconducting quantum interference devices (dc-SQUIDs) with inductances between 25 and 35 pH. At 77 K transfer functions of more than are achieved. noise of the step-edge dc-SQUIDs is observed, but using bias current modulation it is entirely suppressed resulting in a spectral density of flux noise of measured at 1 Hz and 77 K for a SQUID with an inductance of 30 pH.
We present numerical investigation of the RF properties of a double-junction SQUID model, which is referred to as an RF-field-driven double-junction SQUID (RFDS). The RFDS generates large current steps, the order of which can be controlled by external dc field. We simulate the current-voltage characteristics of the RFDS in the normalized frequency range from 0.065 to 5.0. In comparison with the results for a single junction, the step heights of the RFDS are much larger for the low frequency region; e.g. the first step of the RFDS becomes nine times larger than that of a single junction when a dc flux of 0.5 0 is applied ( 0 is a flux quantum). For the high frequency region, the step height of the RFDS is comparable to that of a single junction. The results suggest that the RFDS should be applicable as a wide-band RF detector.