Driving the common-mode of a josephson parametric converter using a three-port power divider

Abstract

An on-chip Josephson parametric converter is provided. The on-chip Josephson parametric converter includes a Josephson ring modulator. The on-chip Josephson parametric converter further includes a lossless power divider, coupled to the Josephson ring modulator, having a single input port and two output ports for receiving a pump drive signal via the single input port, splitting the pump drive signal symmetrically into two signals that are equal in amplitude and phase, and outputting each of the two signals from a respective one of the two output ports. The pump drive signal excites a common mode of the on-chip Josephson parametric converter.

Description

BACKGROUND[0001]Technical Field[0002]The present invention relates generally to electronic devices and, in particular, to driving the common-mode of a Josephson parametric converter using a three-port power divider.[0003]Description of the Related Art[0004]A Josephson ring modulator (JRM) is a nonlinear dispersive element based on Josephson tunnel junctions that can perform three-wave mixing of microwave signals at the quantum limit. The JRM consists of Josephson Junctions (JJs). In order to construct a non-degenerate parametric device that is the Josephson parametric converter (JPC), which is capable of amplifying and / or mixing microwave signals at the quantum limit, the JRM is coupled to two different microwave resonators.[0005]In microstrip JPCs, as well as compact and shunted JPCs, the pump drive which provides the energy for the amplification process is fed through the sum port (Σ) of a 180 degree hybrid coupler. The difference port (Δ) of the same hybrid is used to feed the di...

AI Technical Summary

Benefits of technology

The present patent describes an on-chip Josephson parametric converter that includes a Josephson ring modulator and a lossless power divider. The converter receives a pump drive signal and splits it symmetrically into two signals that are equal in amplitude and phase. These signals are outputted from the converter's two output ports. The pump drive signal excites a common mode of the converter. The technical effect of this invention is the provision of a compact and efficient device for converting pump drive signals into symmetrical signals, which can be used in various applications such as quantum information processing.

Problems solved by technology

The addition of this bulky hardware limits scalability.

To solve this problem, one can design and implement broadband hybrids on-chip but this would add complexity to the design and fabrication processes.

Feeding the pump and the signal (or idler) tones to the JPC through the same coupling capacitors poses a tradeoff between the device bandwidth and dynamic range.

This softens the pump drive (makes it less “stiff”) and consequently decreases the dynamic range of the JPC.

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