Calibration of cryogenic amplification chains using normal-metal–insulator–superconductor junctions

E Hyyppä,M Silveri,L Grönberg,J Goetz,M Möttönen,K Y Tan,R E Lake,S Masuda,V Sevriuk,M Partanen,M Jenei

doi:10.1063/1.5096262

Abstract

Various applications of quantum devices call for an accurate calibration of cryogenic amplification chains. To this end, we present an experimentally feasible calibration scheme and use it to accurately measure the total gain and noise temperature of an amplification chain by employing normal-metal–insulator–superconductor (NIS) junctions. Our method is based on the radiation emitted by inelastic electron tunneling across voltage-biased NIS junctions. We derive an analytical expression that relates the generated power to the applied bias voltage which is the only control parameter of the device. After the setup has been characterized using a standard voltage reflection measurement, the total gain and the noise temperature are extracted by fitting the analytical expression to the microwave power measured at the output of the amplification chain. The 1σ uncertainty of the total gain of 51.84 dB appears to be of the order of 0.10 dB.

Highlights

Various applications of quantum devices call for an accurate calibration of cryogenic amplification chains
We present an experimentally feasible calibration scheme and use it to accurately measure the total gain and noise temperature of an amplification chain by employing normal-metal–insulator–superconductor (NIS) junctions
After the setup has been characterized using a standard voltage reflection measurement, the total gain and the noise temperature are extracted by fitting the analytical expression to the microwave power measured at the output of the amplification chain

Summary

Introduction

Since superconducting quantum circuits typically operate in the single-photon regime, signals are amplified substantially for readout[5,18,19,20,21,22,23] using a chain of amplifiers, which is distributed over several temperature stages.[18,19] In the first stage, a near-quantum-limited amplifier,[24] such as a Josephson parametric amplifier,[25,26,27,28] is often used to lower the noise temperature of the amplification chain.[29]. We present an experimentally feasible calibration scheme and use it to accurately measure the total gain and noise temperature of an amplification chain by employing normal-metal–insulator–superconductor (NIS) junctions.

Results

Conclusion