A broadband detector based on series YBCO grain boundary Josephson junctions

Egor I Glushkov; Alexander V Chiginev; Leonid S Kuzmin; Leonid S Revin

doi:10.3762/bjnano.13.27

A broadband detector based on series YBCO grain boundary Josephson junctions

Beilstein J Nanotechnol. 2022 Mar 28:13:325-333. doi: 10.3762/bjnano.13.27. eCollection 2022.

Authors

Egor I Glushkov^{1

2}, Alexander V Chiginev^{1

2}, Leonid S Kuzmin^{2

3}, Leonid S Revin^{1

2}

Affiliations

¹ Institute for Physics of Microstructures of RAS, GSP-105, Nizhny Novgorod, 603950, Russia.
² Nizhny Novgorod State Technical University n.a. R. E. Alekseev, GSP-41, Nizhny Novgorod, 603950, Russia.
³ Chalmers University of Technology, SE-41296 Gothenburg, Sweden.

Abstract

Modeling of a broadband receiving system based on a meander series of Josephson YBaCuO grain boundary junctions integrated into a log-periodic antenna was carried out. The electromagnetic properties of the system, namely amplitude-frequency characteristic, beam pattern, and fraction of the absorbed power in each Josephson junction were investigated. Based on the obtained results, a numerical simulation of one-dimensional arrays was carried out. The dc characteristics of the detector were calculated, that is, current-voltage characteristic, responsivity, noise, and noise-equivalent power (NEP) for a 250 GHz external signal. The optimal number of junctions to obtain the minimum NEP was found. The use of a series of junctions allows one to increase the responsivity by a factor of 2.5, the NEP value by a factor of 1.5, and the power dynamic range by a factor of 5. For typical YBaCuO Josephson junctions fabricated on a ZrYO bicrystal substrate by magnetron deposition, the following parameters were obtained at a temperature of 77 K: responsivity = 9 kV/W; NEP = 3·10^-13 W/Hz^(1/2); power dynamic range = 1·10⁶.

Keywords: RCSJ model; YBaCuO Josephson junction; array; electromagnetic modeling; log-periodic antenna; series Josephson junctions.

Grants and funding

The work is supported by the Russian Science Foundation (Project No. 20-79-10384).