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arXiv:cond-mat/0507056 · Applied Physics Letters

Intermodulation gain in nonlinear NbN superconducting microwave resonators

Baleegh Abdo, Eran Segev, Oleg Shtempluck, Eyal Buks

Published Jan 9, 2006• 23 citations
arXivHTMLPDF

Abstract

We report the measurement of intermodulation gain greater than unity in NbN superconducting stripline resonators. In the intermodulation measurements we inject two unequal tones into the oscillator—the pump and signal—both lying within the resonance band. At the onset of instability of the reflected pump we obtain a simultaneous gain of both the idler and the reflected signal. The measured gain in both cases can be as high as 15dB.

DOI
10.1063/1.2164925

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We report the measurement of intermodulation gain greater than unity in NbN superconducting stripline resonators. In the intermodulation measurements we inject two unequal tones into the oscillator—the pump and signal—both lying within the resonance band. At the onset of instability of the reflected pump we obtain a simultaneous gain of both the idler and the reflected signal. The measured gain in both cases can be as high as 15dB.
A superconducting microwave resonator is modified with several weak links to make it nonlinear and operated as a phase-insensitive microwave amplifier. Signal gain is demonstrated by intermodulation with a strong pump. The gain is sharply frequency dependent, and we demonstrate phase dependence by examining correlations between the signal and one idler which is a 3rd order intermodulation product of the pump and signal tones. A calibration procedure is described which is based on measurement of both thermal and quantum noise, revealing that the following HEMT amplifier adds noise at 15 times the quantum limit. When operated as a phase-insensitive amplifier the nonlinear resonator added noise at 2.5 times the quantum limit. Significant power is found at intermodulation products beyond 3rd order, which may be responsible for the inability to reach the quantum limit. PACS Codes: 74.78.-w, 42.65.Yj, 85.25.Cp.
We study a microwave superconducting stripline resonator made of NbN on a Sapphire wafer. Novel, self-sustained modulation of the reflected power off the resonator, at frequencies of up to 60MHz, has been recently reported. Here we show experimentally that near the self modulation threshold, the device exhibits a giant nonlinearity, which manifests itself in an extremely high intermodulation gain, accompanied by a very strong noise squeezing and period doubling of various orders. Such a device is highly suitable for serving as a readout device in quantum data processing systems.
Abstract Superconducting resonators and parametric amplifiers are important components in scientific systems such as kinetic inductance detector arrays, frequency-domain multiplexers for other superconducting bolometers, spin-ensemble based memories, and circuit quantum electrodynamics demonstrators. In this paper, we report microwave measurements of superconducting Ti, Nb, and NbN resonators and their use as parametric amplifiers. These half-wave resonators were fabricated under near identical sputtering and lithographic conditions to ensure a like-for-like comparison of material properties. We report a wide range of properties and behaviours in terms of transition temperatures, resistivities, rate-limiting nonlinear response times, nonlinear dissipation, signs of the nonlinear inductances and their dependences on temperature and resonance harmonic. We have successfully operated Nb and NbN resonators as high gain parametric amplifiers, achieving greater than 20 dB of power amplification. We have shown that for a half-wave resonator, amplification can be realised not only in the fundamental resonance but also in the higher harmonic resonances. Further, for materials with high transition temperatures, e.g. Nb and NbN, amplification can be achieved at ∼ 4 K, i.e. a temperature maintained by a pulse tube cooler. Finally, in materials systems that have very fast response times, e.g. NbN, we have found that a cross-harmonic type of amplification can be achieved by placing pump tone in a different resonant mode as the signal and the idler. This wide range of observations will have important implications on the design and application of superconducting parametric amplifiers.
The issue of intermodulation distortion in superconducting devices for rf and microwave applications is discussed. The classical frequency conversion theory for nonlinear two-port devices in the small signal limit is shown to apply to microstrip resonators regardless of their geometry and material. Two tone, third order intermodulation measurements allow more sensitive detection of nonlinearity compared to surface impedance measurements, provided a low noise, spurious free experimental setup is adopted. Measurements carried out on high quality Nb meanderline microstrip resonators show that at very low power level nonlinearity is dominated by intrinsic device properties. Film defects start to play a predominant role above a critical power level that strongly depends on the defect’s nature.
We study theoretically and experimentally the response of a microwave superconducting stripline resonator, integrated with a microbridge, to a monochromatic injected signal. We find that there is a certain range of driving parameters, in which a novel nonlinear phenomenon immerges, and self-sustained modulation of the reflected power off the resonator is generated by the resonator. A theoretical model which attributes the self modulation to a thermal instability yields a good agreement with the experimental results.
We study theoretically and experimentally the response of a microwave superconducting stripline resonator, integrated with a microbridge, to a monochromatic injected signal. We find that there is a certain range of driving parameters in which a novel nonlinear phenomenon emerges, and self-sustained modulation of the reflected power off the resonator is generated by the resonator. A theoretical model which attributes the self-modulation to a thermal instability yields a good agreement with the experimental results.