Resonant Phase Matching of Josephson Junction Traveling Wave Parametric Amplifiers

O’Brien, Kevin; Macklin, Chris; Siddiqi, Irfan; Zhang, Xiang

doi:10.1103/physrevlett.113.157001

Cited by 178 publications

(170 citation statements)

References 40 publications

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“…Indeed recent works 30 discuss mode engineering of the resonant modes of a chain by varying the junction parameters. This approach might be extended to also engineer the non-linear interaction between the modes and thus tailor an active medium for the use in travelling wave parametric amplifiers 31,32 .…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Kerr coefficients of plasma resonances in Josephson junction chains

et al. 2015

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We present an experimental and theoretical analysis of the self-and cross-Kerr effect of extended plasma resonances in Josephson junction chains. We calculate the Kerr coefficients by deriving and diagonalizing the Hamiltonian of a linear circuit model for the chain and then adding the Josephson non-linearity as a perturbation. The calculated Kerr-coefficients are compared with the measurement data of a chain of 200 junctions. The Kerr effect manifests itself as a frequency shift that depends linearly on the number of photons in a resonant mode. By changing the input power on a low signal level, we are able to measure this shift. The photon number is calibrated using the self-Kerr shift calculated from the sample parameters. We then compare the measured cross-Kerr shift with the theoretical prediction, using the calibrated photon number.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Kerr coefficients of plasma resonances in Josephson junction chains

et al. 2015

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“…While the observed large bandwidth was qualitatively explained by a model consisting of a negative resistance 18 coupled to a frequency dependent impedance, no clear prescription on the design principle was provided. A different approach using Josephson non-linear transmission lines 19,20 was recently demonstrated 21,22 with nearly 4 GHz of bandwidth. However, this design requires fabrication of about 2000 nearly identical blocks of oscillator stages, demanding fairly sophisticated fabrication facilities.…”

Section: Josephson Parametric Amplifiers (Jpas) Have Become a Crucialmentioning

confidence: 99%

Broadband parametric amplification with impedance engineering: Beyond the gain-bandwidth product

Roy

Kundu

Chand

et al. 2015

Applied Physics Letters

154

146

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We present an impedance engineered Josephson parametric amplifier capable of providing bandwidth beyond the traditional gain-bandwidth product. We achieve this by introducing a positive linear slope in the imaginary component of the input impedance seen by the Josephson oscillator using a λ/2 transformer. Our theoretical model predicts an extremely flat gain profile with a bandwidth enhancement proportional to the square root of amplitude gain. We experimentally demonstrate a nearly flat 20 dB gain over a 640 MHz band, along with a mean 1-dB compression point of -110 dBm and near quantum-limited noise. The results are in good agreement with our theoretical model.Josephson parametric amplifiers (JPAs) have become a crucial component of superconducting qubit 1 measurement circuitry, enabling recent studies of quantum jumps 2 , generation and detection of squeezed microwave field 3 , quantum feedback 4,5 , real-time tracking of qubit state evolution 6-8 and quantum error detection 9,10 . Although JPAs based on Josephson junctions embedded in a resonator 11-13 regularly achieve 20 dB power gain and quantum-limited noise, typical bandwidth is restricted to 10-50 MHz 11,14 , making them suitable for single qubit measurements only. The rapid progress towards multi-qubit architectures 9 for fault-tolerant quantum computing 15,16 demands an amplifier with much larger bandwidth to enable simultaneous readout of multiple qubits with minimal resources.There have been several attempts in this direction in recent years. One such attempt used a broadband impedance transformer 17 to lower the quality factor of a lumped-element Josephson oscillator which is the main component of a parametric amplifier. While the observed large bandwidth was qualitatively explained by a model consisting of a negative resistance 18 coupled to a frequency dependent impedance, no clear prescription on the design principle was provided. A different approach using Josephson non-linear transmission lines 19,20 was recently demonstrated 21,22 with nearly 4 GHz of bandwidth. However, this design requires fabrication of about 2000 nearly identical blocks of oscillator stages, demanding fairly sophisticated fabrication facilities. Multimode systems utilizing dissipative interactions have also been suggested theoretically as a route for enhancing bandwidth 23 , but have not been realized experimentally. In this Letter, we present a simple technique for enhancing the bandwidth of a JPA and beating the standard gain-bandwidth limit. It involves engineering the imaginary part of the environmental impedance: in particular, we introduce a positive linear slope in the imaginary component of the impedance shunting the JPA, while keeping the real part unchanged at the pump frequency. Our design uses a combination of a λ/4 and a λ/2 impedance transformers which are significantly easier to fabricate than a broadband impedance transformer 17 . Our theoretical model explains why the imaginary part of the impedance plays a crucial role in determining the amplifier bandw...

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“…JPAs use the dissipationless nonlinearity of Josephson junctions in a parametric process to achieve gain. Both narrowband JPAs, based on junction-embedded resonant architectures, and broadband JPAs, based on junction-embedded transmission lines, have been developed and have demonstrated near quantum-limited noise performance [15,16]. However, the ∼ 10 µA critical current of the junctions limits the dynamic range of these devices and excludes them from some important applications, such as the multiplexed readout of thousands of qubits or detectors.…”

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confidence: 99%

“…Two pump photons from a strong tone are converted into a signal photon and an idler photon, producing gain. There are three aspects critical to a NbTiN traveling-wave parametric amplifier design: the use of nonlinear transmission line as the gain media, phase-matching structures to achieve high (exponential) gain over a broad bandwidth, and structures to suppress higher harmonics of the pump [15,20,23,26].…”

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confidence: 99%

Broadband parametric amplifiers based on nonlinear kinetic inductance artificial transmission lines

Chaudhuri

Irwin

et al. 2017

Applied Physics Letters

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We present broadband parametric amplifiers based on the kinetic inductance of superconducting NbTiN thin films in an artificial (lumped-element) transmission line architecture. We demonstrate two amplifier designs implementing different phase matching techniques: periodic impedance loading, and resonator phase shifters placed periodically along the transmission line. Our design offers several advantages over previous CPW-based amplifiers, including intrinsic 50 ohm characteristic impedance, natural suppression of higher pump harmonics, lower required pump power, and shorter total trace length. Experimental realizations of both versions of the amplifiers are demonstrated. With a transmission line length of 20 cm, we have achieved gains of 15 dB over several GHz of bandwidth.Cryogenic low-noise broadband amplifiers are critical for a variety of applications, such as the multiplexed readout of astronomical detectors [1][2][3] and superconducting qubits [4][5][6], the manipulation of mechanical resonators coupled to microwave cavities [7], and the study of nonclassical states of microwave light [8,9]. These experiments often use high electron mobility transistor (HEMT) amplifiers, which typically have a noise temperature of 2-5 K in the 4-8 GHz range [10]. This noise is 10-40 times above the standard quantum limit, the fundamental limit imposed by quantum mechanics [11].Over the last decade, there has been rapid development of quantum-limited microwave amplifiers, including particularly Josephson parametric amplifiers (JPAs) [12][13][14]. JPAs use the dissipationless nonlinearity of Josephson junctions in a parametric process to achieve gain. Both narrowband JPAs, based on junction-embedded resonant architectures, and broadband JPAs, based on junction-embedded transmission lines, have been developed and have demonstrated near quantum-limited noise performance [15,16]. However, the ∼ 10 µA critical current of the junctions limits the dynamic range of these devices and excludes them from some important applications, such as the multiplexed readout of thousands of qubits or detectors. In addition, fabricating a large number (> 1000) of junctions with high yield is a nontrivial task.Recently, another type of broadband parametric amplifier based on the nonlinear kinetic inductance of NbTiN transmission lines has been proposed [17,18,[20][21][22]. These devices are simple to fabricate, requiring only one lithography step (patterning of the NbTiN film). Due to the 1 mA critical currents of the films, the amplifier saturation power is 5-6 orders of magnitude higher than JPAs, making them promising for readout of a large array of detectors or qubits. In contrast with reflectiontype resonant JPAs, the traveling-wave architecture of the NbTiN amplifier eliminates the need for a circulator, enabling on-chip integration with a detector or qubit. In previous work, NbTiN amplifiers were realized as long coplanar waveguide (CPW) transmission lines, with >20 dB gain over several GHz bandwidth [18]. Despite the excellent gain perform...

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Resonant Phase Matching of Josephson Junction Traveling Wave Parametric Amplifiers

Cited by 178 publications

References 40 publications

Kerr coefficients of plasma resonances in Josephson junction chains

Kerr coefficients of plasma resonances in Josephson junction chains

Broadband parametric amplification with impedance engineering: Beyond the gain-bandwidth product

Broadband parametric amplifiers based on nonlinear kinetic inductance artificial transmission lines

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