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IEEE Transactions on Applied Superconductivity

Josephson array oscillators with microstrip resonators

Akira Kawakami, Yoshinori Uzawa, Z. Wang

Published Jun 1, 1997• 14 citations
Publisher

Abstract

Interaction between two Josephson junctions and a microstrip resonator is investigated using a resonator shunted junction (RLCSJ) model. A sharp current step resulting from coupling with the resonator is observed in simulated I-V characteristics. There is strong phase-locking and decreasing of dynamic resistance at the current step. We design and fabricate two types of Josephson array oscillators using these effects to obtain stable phase locking and narrow linewidth for the oscillation. The fabricated oscillators are formed with nine shunted Nb/AlOx/Nb tunnel junctions and Nb microstrip resonators. The power of the oscillator delivered to the load resistor was estimated to be about 3.6 /spl mu/W at 330 GHz. A composite linewidth of the oscillators is also measured at about 19 MHz at 4.2 K using two oscillators with a log-periodic antenna and a SIS detector.

DOI
10.1109/77.621994

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Interaction between two Josephson junctions and a microstrip resonator is investigated using a resonator shunted junction (RLCSJ) model. A sharp current step resulting from coupling with the resonator is observed in simulated I-V characteristics. There is strong phase-locking and decreasing of dynamic resistance at the current step. We design and fabricate two types of Josephson array oscillators using these effects to obtain stable phase locking and narrow linewidth for the oscillation. The fabricated oscillators are formed with nine shunted Nb/AlOx/Nb tunnel junctions and Nb microstrip resonators. The power of the oscillator delivered to the load resistor was estimated to be about 3.6 /spl mu/W at 330 GHz. A composite linewidth of the oscillators is also measured at about 19 MHz at 4.2 K using two oscillators with a log-periodic antenna and a SIS detector.
We have developed resistively shunted tunnel junctions with a small parasitic inductance (/spl equiv/100 fH) to improve the high-frequency performance of Josephson array oscillators. Josephson array oscillators with 11 such junctions and Nb microstrip resonators were designed and fabricated to operate at 690 GHz. Shapiro steps induced by Josephson oscillation were clearly observed at the submillimeter frequency region. By comparing the step height with the numerical simulation, we estimated the power of the Josephson oscillator delivered to the load resistor to be about 10 /spl mu/W at 625 GHz. The linewidth of the Josephson array oscillator was also measured using an integrated receiver consisting of two Josephson array oscillators and an SIS mixer. The designed frequency of the receiver was set at 550 GHz. IF output power spectrum was observed when both the oscillators were biased at about 1.17 mV which corresponds to 566 GHz. The composite linewidth of Josephson oscillation was measured about 8 MHz at 4.2 K.
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.
The high frequency properties of the one-dimensional transmission line consisting of a parallel array of resistively shunted Josephson tunnel junctions have been studied in the limit of relatively low damping where this nonlinear system exhibits new and interesting phenomena. Here we report on experimental investigations of a resonant step observed at a voltage corresponding to 600 GHz in the dc current-voltage characteristic of a parallel array of 20 identical small NbAlO/sub x/Nb Josephson junctions interconnected by short sections of superconducting microstrip line. The junctions are mutually phase locked due to collective interaction with the line sections excited close to the half wavelength resonance. The phase locking range can be adjusted by means of an external dc magnetic field and the step size varies periodically with the magnetic field.>
A submillimeter-wave oscillator using a phase-locked array of Josephson junctions is demonstrated. With an array of 40 shunted tunnel junctions, the oscillator delivers 1 mu W of power at 350 GHz into a 60- Omega load on the chip. The operating frequency of the oscillator is tunable over a range of about 10%. Experiments on two coupled lead alloy tunnel junctions show that Josephson oscillations exist to about 1 THz. Using a similar design and a higher gap superconductor such as NbN for the transmission lines, arrays operating at 1 THz with power outputs of 1 mW should be feasible.>
The high frequency properties of the one-dimensional transmission line consisting of a parallel array of resistively shunted Josephson tunnel junctions have been studied in the limit of relatively low damping where this nonlinear system exhibits new and interesting phenomena. Here we report on experimental and numerical investigations of a resonant step observed at a voltage corresponding to 600 GHz in the dc current-voltage characteristic of a parallel array of 20 identical small NbAl2O3Nb Josephson junctions interconnected by short sections of superconducting microstrip line. The junctions are mutually phase locked due to collective interaction with the line sections excited close to the half wavelength resonance. The phase locking range can be adjusted by means of an external dc magnetic field and the step size varies periodically with the magnetic field. The largest step corresponds to a superconducting phase difference of π between neighboring junctions.
In this study, a 150 GHz waveguide Josephson array oscillator was designed, fabricated, and evaluated as a local oscillator (LO) source for superconductor-insulator-superconductor (SIS) mixer-based amplifiers. These amplifiers aim to reduce the power consumption of microwave amplifiers used in large-scale multi-pixel heterodyne receivers for radio astronomy and superconducting quantum computers. We fabricated a Josephson array oscillator of 11 Nb/Al–AlOx/Nb Josephson junctions with Cu shunt resistors, each of which is placed on the center of a half-wavelength microstrip line resonator. When the LO signal from the oscillator was introduced into the balanced SIS mixers via a waveguide, the oscillator successfully pumped four SIS mixers simultaneously, delivering a total estimated LO power of 0.22 µW at 146.7 GHz. The SIS mixers operated without a millimeter-wave isolator at an LO noise temperature of 4–6 K. These results indicate the Josephson array oscillator's potential as an LO source for SIS mixer-based amplifiers.