The National Institute of Standards and Technologhy (NIST) and Faculty of University of Colorado Boulder have jointly published a paper titled: “RF Josephson Arbitrary Waveform Synthesizer with Integrated Superconducting Diplexers” that demonstrates results indicating a significant step towards a broadband, integrated, quantum-based microwave voltage source with useful power above -30 dBm.
The team has developed a quantum-defined superconducting programmable voltage source for generating microwave-frequency waveforms. The voltage source is an RF Josephson arbitrary waveform synthesizer (RF-JAWS) utilizing a superconducting integrated circuit that is cooled to 4 K and is composed of an array of 4500 Josephson junctions.
The researchers incorporated on-chip superconducting diplexers and integrated them with the RF-JAWS circuit to achieve an open-circuit signal of 22 mV rms at 1.005 GHz, which is a 25% increase in state-of-the-art. The use of integrated filtering enables 25% larger microwave amplitudes compared to the state-of-the-art, thanks to a broader passband and reduced loss. Measurements of the new circuit showed that it correctly synthesized the RF waveform with signal amplitude that was based on quantum effects.
This milestone will create new opportunities for improving measurements of high-accuracy RF voltage and power for modern high-speed communications components and instruments. NIST’s goal is to advance quantum-based standards for RF communications to eliminate costs and overhead in calibration and traceability chain measurements by providing self-calibrated, quantum-based standards and automated measurement capability to communication and instrument manufacturers.
Click here to learn more about RFJosephson Arbitrary Waveform Synthesizer.
The development of this quantum-based high accuracy waveform synthesizer is part of the quantum voltage project. Click here to learn more about quantum voltage project.
