Introduction of ramp-type technology in HTS quasiparticle injection devices

Injection of quasiparticles with an energy larger than the superconducting gap into a superconducting strip results in breaking of Cooper-pairs and hence the suppression of the superconducting properties. Experiments using planar injection devices made of HTS materials with various barrier materials showed current gains varying from 2 up to 15 at 77 K. By changing the junction size and therefore the superconducting volume the current gain could be increased. A further reduction of the junction volume is very difficult using the planar device geometry. However, by applying the ramp-type technology it is possible to reduce the junction volume by at least one order of magnitude and a further increase in current gain is expected. Another advantage of this technology is the formation of in-situ barriers and electrodes and hence a better control of the junction characteristics should be possible, also the compatibility with the processes involved making RSFQ devices can be interesting for later applications. We have fabricated ramp-type injection devices, using various types of barriers. Characterization of these devices has been performed and the results of these experiments will be presented and discussed

HTS quasiparticle injection devices with large current gain at 77 K

Recent progress on the development of planar QP-injection devices using YBCO and STO as an epitaxial injection barrier will be discussed. The main problem for HTS injection devices is to grow reliably a well defined, ultra-thin tunneling barrier suitable for QP tunneling. For this purpose, we used inverted cylindrical magnetron sputtering to first optimize the smoothness of our YBCO films by controlling tightly an relevant sputtering conditions. We are able to prepare smooth (001) YBCO films on (001) STO substrates on a routine basis with an average roughness varying between 1 and 2 nm. With these flat YBCO films both planar as well as grain boundary junctions were fabricated using epitaxial STO barriers between 2 and 8 nm thick and a 50 nm of Au counter electrode. Planar junctions with 6 nm STO barriers were in most cases fully insulating, in some cases, a current gain of up to 7.4 at 77 K was obtained. For 3 nm STO barriers, the highest current gain was 15 at 81 K. The injection results also show a scaling behavior with junction size. Based on the present materials development and device understanding, we consider a current gain of up to 20 at 77 K possibl

Surface roughness and height-height correlations dependence on thickness of YBaCuO thin films

For high Tc superconducting multilayer applications, smooth interfaces between the individual layers are required. However, in general, e.g., YBaCuO grows in a 3D screw-dislocation or island nucleation growth mode, introducing a surface roughness. In this contribution we study the surface layer roughness as a function of different deposition techniques as well as deposition parameters. Special attention will be paid to the increase in film roughness with increasing film thickness. For these studies we used scanning probe microscopy. From these experiments, we obtained an island density decreasing with a square root dependence on the film thickness. Furthermore, height-height correlations indicate that the film growth can be described by a ballistic growth process, with very limited effective surface diffusion. The correlation lengths ¿ are on the order of the island size, inferring that the island size forms the mean diffusion barrier. This results in a representation of non-correlated islands, which can be considered as autonomous systems

Material aspects for preparing HTS quasiparticle injection devices

Quasiparticle (QP) injection devices based on HTS could play an important role in future superconducting applications if material aspects can be better controlled. One reason why this kind of device received little attention in the past is the lack of an appropriate barrier for QP tunnelling. In a series of experiments, we used different barriers to test if they are suitable, i.e. if a current and possibly a voltage gain can be achieved. We improved the performance of planar YBCO/natural barrier/Au devices and a current gain of more than 6 at 40 K was observed. Most devices, however, showed signs of heating effects. Another barrier material was SrTiO3 with layers of 5-6 nm thickness. Current-voltage characteristics showed that the barriers were continuous and we observed current gains of up to 3 at 60 K. PrBa2 Cu3O7-x is an interesting candidate if one could overcome the problem of resonant inelastic tunnelling for QP. In a series of experiments we demonstrated that, even for 3 Mn thin PBCO barriers on a- and c-axis oriented YBa2Cu3O7-x, most devices showed at best a current gain of 1. However, we have indications that a current gain of 10 could be possible with unity voltage gai

Detection of Noble Gas Scintillation Light with Large Area Avalanche Photodiodes (LAAPDs)

Large Area Avalanche Photodiodes (LAAPDs) were used for a series of systematic measurements of the scintillation light in Ar, Kr, and Xe gas. Absolute quantum efficiencies are derived. Values for Xe and Kr are consistent with those given by the manufacturer. For the first time we show that argon scintillation (128 nm) can be detected at a quantum efficiency above 40%. Low-pressure argon gas is shown to emit significant amounts of non-UV radiation. The average energy expenditure for the creation of non-UV photons in argon gas at this pressure is measured to be below 378 eV.Comment: 16 pages, 7 figure

Unified radio and network control across heterogeneous hardware platforms

Experimentation is an important step in the investigation of techniques for handling spectrum scarcity or the development of new waveforms in future wireless networks. However, it is impractical and not cost effective to construct custom platforms for each future network scenario to be investigated. This problem is addressed by defining Unified Programming Interfaces that allow common access to several platforms for experimentation-based prototyping, research, and development purposes. The design of these interfaces is driven by a diverse set of scenarios that capture the functionality relevant to future network implementations while trying to keep them as generic as possible. Herein, the definition of this set of scenarios is presented as well as the architecture for supporting experimentation-based wireless research over multiple hardware platforms. The proposed architecture for experimentation incorporates both local and global unified interfaces to control any aspect of a wireless system while being completely agnostic to the actual technology incorporated. Control is feasible from the low-level features of individual radios to the entire network stack, including hierarchical control combinations. A testbed to enable the use of the above architecture is utilized that uses a backbone network in order to be able to extract measurements and observe the overall behaviour of the system under test without imposing further communication overhead to the actual experiment. Based on the aforementioned architecture, a system is proposed that is able to support the advancement of intelligent techniques for future networks through experimentation while decoupling promising algorithms and techniques from the capabilities of a specific hardware platform