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Applied Physics Letters

Josephson parametric amplifier with third-order resonator impedance matching

Quan Zuo, Kaixuan Zhang, Wenqu Xu, Junliang Jiang, Tingting Guo, Shiyao Yang, Tianshi Zhou, Mingyuan Yu, Yongyang Yu, Junzhou Zhang, Binglin Li, Jiyuan Zhu, Jiazheng Pan, Jinpeng Li, Huabing Wang, 曹春海, Guozhu Sun, Peiheng Wu

Published Oct 12, 2026• 0 citations
Publisher

Abstract

We propose and realize a multi-resonator coupled impedance-matched Josephson parametric amplifier. Parallel plate capacitors serve as couplers to achieve coupling between the nonlinear resonator containing the Josephson loop and the half-wavelength resonator, and between the half-wavelength resonators themselves. By precisely designing each coupling strength, we effectively extend the amplifier's bandwidth. Through a combination of circuit-level and electromagnetic field simulations, we optimize the structural parameters of the resonators and capacitors. The two measured devices have 15 dB gain with a bandwidth of 1.3 GHz and 20 dB gain with a bandwidth of 1.1 GHz, respectively, with near-quantum-limited noise temperatures.

DOI
10.1063/5.0347297

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We propose and realize a multi-resonator coupled impedance-matched Josephson parametric amplifier. Parallel plate capacitors serve as couplers to achieve coupling between the nonlinear resonator containing the Josephson loop and the half-wavelength resonator, and between the half-wavelength resonators themselves. By precisely designing each coupling strength, we effectively extend the amplifier's bandwidth. Through a combination of circuit-level and electromagnetic field simulations, we optimize the structural parameters of the resonators and capacitors. The two measured devices have 15 dB gain with a bandwidth of 1.3 GHz and 20 dB gain with a bandwidth of 1.1 GHz, respectively, with near-quantum-limited noise temperatures.
An impedance matched parametric amplifier (IMPA) with Josephson junctions is fabricated and characterized. A hybrid structure containing coplanar and strip structures is implemented to realize an impedance taper line and a plate capacitor in an LC nonlinear resonator based on Josephson junctions. The upper plate of the capacitor is isolated with SiN x without grounding as well as the strips. Such easily-prepared designs greatly reduce the requirements for lithography alignment and precision, which makes the fabrication process more reliable. The experimental results show that in such IMPA a gain higher than 25 dB with a bandwidth of about 100 MHz can be obtained. This broadband amplifier operates close to the quantum limit. By adjusting the working point, a higher bandwidth of about 400 MHz can be obtained with a gain of about 17 dB.
In this paper, we present the design of a resonance phase-matched Josephson travelling-wave parametric amplifier that have a 12 GHz 3 dB-bandwidth centred near 10 GHz. Our design utilises a unilateral planar circuit structure which requires only a single layer of thin superconductor film deposited on a supporting substrate to reduce the fabrication complexity. The nonlinear medium of the device is provided by a series of Josephson junctions embedded in a coplanar waveguide with integrated shunt capacitor, and the dispersion of the transmission line is controlled by quarter wavelength resonators coupled capacitively to the feedline. Here, we describe in detail the electromagnetic designs of the various components of the amplifier, and the coupled-mode equations model that governs the three-wave mixing process. We extract the required circuit parameters of the amplifier through electromagnetic modelling, and determine the parametric gain-bandwidth product of the amplifier using an analytical model. Finally, we discuss the various design aspects that affect the overall performance of the amplifier.
Broadband quantum-limited amplifiers play a critical role in the single-shot readout of superconducting qubits, but a popular implementation, the traveling wave parametric amplifier, involves a complex design and fabrication process. Here, we present a simple design for a Josephson parametric amplifier, using a lumped element resonator comprising a superconducting quantum interference device whose useful bandwidth is enhanced with an on-chip impedance-matching circuit. We demonstrate a flux-coupling geometry that maximizes the coupling to the Josephson loop and minimizes spurious excitation of the amplifier resonant circuit. The amplifier, which operates in a flux-pumped mode, is demonstrated with a power gain of more than 20 dB over a bandwidth of about 300 MHz, where approximate noise measurements indicate quantum-limited performance. A procedure is given for optimizing the bandwidth for this kind of amplifier, using a linearized circuit simulation while minimizing non-linearities.
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We present design and simulation of a Josephson parametric amplifier with bandwidth exceeding 1.6 GHz, and with high saturation power approaching -90 dBm at a gain of 22.8 dB. An improvement by a factor of roughly 50 in bandwidth over the state of the art is achieved by using well-established impedance matching techniques. An improvement by a factor of roughly 100 in saturation power over the state of the art is achieved by implementing the Josephson nonlinear element as an array of rf-SQUIDs with a total of 40 junctions. WRSpice simulations of the circuit are in excellent agreement with the calculated gain and saturation characteristics.
We present a fishbone-like lumped-element artificial transmission line to overcome impedance mismatch in a reflection-type Josephson parametric amplifier between a nonlinear resonator and an external transmission line. Using this easily prepared architecture, we design and fabricate a broadband Josephson parametric amplifier, which has gain in an excess of 20 dB with a bandwidth of hundreds of MHz. Furthermore, by varying the working point of the device, the operating frequency of amplification can be tuned in a wide frequency range of 1 GHz while the amplifier operates in the mode of either three-wave mixing or four-wave mixing. Such a parametric amplifier is suitable for engineering applications of superconducting circuit quantum electrodynamics.