Quantum Limited Quasiparticle Mixers at 100 GHz

Conference · Mon Apr 01 04:00:00 EST 1991

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1109/20.133934· OSTI ID:5771920

Mears, C. A. ^[1]; Hu, Qing ^[2]; Richards, P. L. ^[1]; Worsham, A. H. ^[3]; Prober, D. E. ^[3]; Raeisaenen, A. V. ^[4]

---

1. Univ. of California, Berkeley, CA (United States); Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory (LBL), Berkeley, CA (United States)
2. Univ. of California, Berkeley, CA (United States); Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory (LBL), Berkeley, CA (United States); Massachusetts Inst. of Technology (MIT), Cambridge, MA (United States)
3. Yale Univ., New Haven, CT (United States)
4. Helsinki Univ. of Technology, Espoo (Finland)

We have made accurate measurements of the noise and gain of superconducting-insulating superconducting (SIS) mixers employing small area (1μm²) Ta/Ta₂O₅/Pb_0.9Bi_0.1 tunnel junctions. We have measured an added mixer noise of 0.61 +/- 0.31 quanta at 95.0 GHz, which is within 25 percent of the quantum limit of 0.5 quanta. We have carried out a detailed comparison between theoretical predictions of the quantum theory of mixing and experimentally measured noise and gain. We used the shapes of I-V curves pumped at the upper and lower sideband frequencies to deduce values of the embedding admittances at these frequencies. Using these admittances, the mixer noise and gain predicted by quantum theory are in excellent agreement with experiment.

• Research Organization: Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory (LBL), Berkeley, CA (United States)
• Sponsoring Organization: USDOE Office of Science (SC), Basic Energy Sciences (BES). Materials Sciences & Engineering Division (MSE); US Air Force Office of Scientific Research (AFOSR); National Science Foundation (NSF)
• DOE Contract Number: AC03-76SF00098
• OSTI ID: 5771920
• Report Number(s): LBL--29546; CONF-9104234--2; ON: DE91011826; CNN: ECS-8604350; AFOSR-88-0270
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

426001* -- Engineering-- Superconducting Devices & Circuits-- (1990-)
656100 -- Condensed Matter Physics-- Superconductivity
657002 -- Theoretical & Mathematical Physics-- Classical & Quantum Mechanics
71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS
GENERAL PHYSICS
75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS
SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND SUPERFLUIDITY
AMPLIFIERS
BISMUTH
CHALCOGENIDES
CURRENTS
ELECTRIC CONDUCTIVITY
ELECTRIC CURRENTS
ELECTRICAL PROPERTIES
ELECTRONIC EQUIPMENT
ELEMENTS
EQUIPMENT
FIELD THEORIES
FREQUENCY RANGE
GHZ RANGE
GHZ RANGE 01-100
HETERODYNE RECEIVERS
JUNCTIONS
LEAD
LEAKAGE CURRENT
METALS
MICROWAVE EQUIPMENT
MIXERS
NOISE
OXIDES
OXYGEN COMPOUNDS
PERFORMANCE
PHYSICAL PROPERTIES
QUANTUM FIELD THEORY
QUASI PARTICLES
RADIO EQUIPMENT
REFRACTORY METAL COMPOUNDS
SUPERCONDUCTING JUNCTIONS
SUPERCONDUCTIVITY
TANTALUM
TANTALUM COMPOUNDS
TANTALUM OXIDES
TRANSITION ELEMENT COMPOUNDS
TRANSITION ELEMENTS