High-Tc superconducting quantum interference filters (SQIFs) made by ion irradiation

Abstract

Superconducting quantum interference filters (SQIFs) are arrays of superconducting loops of different sizes including Josephson junctions (JJ). For a random distribution of sizes, they present a non-periodic response to an applied magnetic field, with a large transfer function and a magnetic field sensitivity potentially improved with respect to that of a single SQUID. Such properties make SQIFs interesting devices to detect the magnetic component of electromagnetic waves at microwave frequencies. We have used the highly scalable technique of ion irradiation to make SQUIDs and SQIFs based on commercial YBa2Cu3O7 films, and studied their properties. Both display optimal performance as a function of temperature and bias current, that can be understood in the frame of numerical simulations that we developed. The role of asymmetries and dispersion in JJ characteristics (routinely found in high Tc superconductors technologies) is also studied. We have found that none of them impede the existence of a SQIF effect but both play a role on the emergence of the optimal point. We finally present results on SQIF made with 2000 SQUIDs in series, showing a transfer function .