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Applications of Superconducting Re-Entrant Microwave Cavities

Thomas J. Clark

Published Jan 1, 2019• 0 citations
Publisher

Abstract

This thesis describes the design, fabrication, and characterization of 3D superconducting microwave cavities for two applications. It first describes a cryogenically compatible microwave filter that is able to tune its resonant frequency by an unprecedented 5 GHz via deformation caused by a a helium pressure vessel. Then, it describes a novel microwave optomechanics device where such a cavity is coupled to an aluminized SiN membrane. It demonstrates that this device can be back-action cooled from the 450 mK base temperature of the cryostat down to 160 mK.

DOI
10.7939/r3-26vv-5h47

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This thesis describes the design, fabrication, and characterization of 3D superconducting microwave cavities for two applications. It first describes a cryogenically compatible microwave filter that is able to tune its resonant frequency by an unprecedented 5 GHz via deformation caused by a a helium pressure vessel. Then, it describes a novel microwave optomechanics device where such a cavity is coupled to an aluminized SiN membrane. It demonstrates that this device can be back-action cooled from the 450 mK base temperature of the cryostat down to 160 mK.
A wide variety of applications of microwave cavities, such as measurement and control of superconducting qubits, magnonic resonators, and phase noise filters, would be well served by having a highly tunable microwave resonance. Often this tunability is desired in situ at low temperatures, where one can take advantage of superconducting cavities. To date, such cryogenic tuning while maintaining a high quality factor has been limited to ∼500 MHz. Here we demonstrate a three-dimensional superconducting microwave cavity that shares one wall with a pressurized volume of helium. Upon pressurization of the helium chamber, the microwave cavity is deformed, which results in in situ tuning of its resonant frequency by more than 5 GHz, greater than 60% of the original 8 GHz resonant frequency. The quality factor of the cavity remains approximately constant at ≈7 × 103 over the entire range of tuning. As a demonstration of its usefulness, we implement a tunable cryogenic phase noise filter, which reduces the phase noise of our source by approximately 10 dB above 400 kHz.
In the context of engineered quantum systems, there is a demand for superconducting tunable devices, able to operate with high-quality factors at power levels equivalent to only a few photons. In this work, we developed a 3D microwave re-entrant cavity with such characteristics ready to provide a very fine-tuning of a high-Q resonant mode over a large dynamic range. This system has an electronic tuning mechanism based on a mechanically amplified piezoelectric actuator, which controls the resonator dominant mode frequency by changing the cavity narrow gap by very small displacements. Experiments were conducted at room and dilution refrigerator temperatures showing a large dynamic range up to 4 GHz and 1 GHz, respectively, and were compared to a finite element method model simulated data. At elevated microwave power input, nonlinear thermal effects were observed to destroy the superconductivity of the cavity due to the large electric fields generated in the small gap of the re-entrant cavity.
Frequency tunability of three dimensional (3D) microwave cavities opens up numerous possibilities for their use in hybrid quantum systems and related technologies. For many applications, it is desirable to tune the resonance at cryogenic temperatures without mechanical actuation. We show that a superconducting 3D microwave cavity can be tuned at the percent level by taking advantage of the dielectric properties of superfluid 4He at millikelvin temperatures, without affecting its intrinsic quality factor—reaching 3 × 105 in the present experiment.
Superconducting microwave resonators are of interest for a wide range of applications, including for their use as microwave kinetic inductance detectors (MKIDs) for the detection of faint astrophysical signatures, as well as for quantum computing applications and materials characterization. In this paper, procedures are presented for the fabrication and characterization of thin-film superconducting microwave resonators. The fabrication methodology allows for the realization of superconducting transmission-line resonators with features on both sides of an atomically smooth single-crystal silicon dielectric. This work describes the procedure for the installation of resonator devices into a cryogenic microwave testbed and for cool-down below the superconducting transition temperature. The set-up of the cryogenic microwave testbed allows one to do careful measurements of the complex microwave transmission of these resonator devices, enabling the extraction of the properties of the superconducting lines and dielectric substrate (e.g., internal quality factors, loss and kinetic inductance fractions), which are important for device design and performance.
Superconducting radio frequency (SRF) cavities present a unique opportunity in their potential for extremely large quality factors (Q) which allow for low-loss microwave systems which extend photon lifetimes. They have subsequently been used and improved upon as individual cells of particle accelerators where large accelerating voltages are required. More recently, they have been used as double SRF cavity systems for coupling electromagnetic fields via qubits inserted into the cavity bodies. Capitalizing on this Q enhancement, we propose an SRF cavity system for parametric amplification of these microwave fields from vacuum. This triple SRF cavity consists of a pump cavity with a silicon nitride (SiN) membrane acting as one end-wall and two signal/idler cavities that are separated by an iris plane. Parametric amplification occurs when some parameter of the system varies sinusoidally in time and this subsequently drives the system into oscillation. Here, we vary the length of the cavities by driving the SiN membrane end-wall into motion using the radiation pressure from the pump cavity. Sufficient energy transfer between cavities will allow amplification and subsequent oscillation of the vacuum fields. We will introduce and explain theoretical background, SRF cavity fabrication and testing, SiN membrane mechanics, and lastly double cavity mechanics. We will identify which facets of the project seem feasible at this time.
Superconducting microwave resonators are of interest for a wide range of applications, including for their use as microwave kinetic inductance detectors (MKIDs) for the detection of faint astrophysical signatures, as well as for quantum computing applications and materials characterization. In this paper, procedures are presented for the fabrication and characterization of thin-film superconducting microwave resonators. The fabrication methodology allows for the realization of superconducting transmission-line resonators with features on both sides of an atomically smooth single-crystal silicon dielectric. This work describes the procedure for the installation of resonator devices into a cryogenic microwave testbed and for cool-down below the superconducting transition temperature. The set-up of the cryogenic microwave testbed allows one to do careful measurements of the complex microwave transmission of these resonator devices, enabling the extraction of the properties of the superconducting lines and dielectric substrate (e.g., internal quality factors, loss and kinetic inductance fractions), which are important for device design and performance.