Investigation and reduction of excess low-frequency noise in rf superconducting quantum interference devices

Abstract

A detailed study has been made of the low-frequency excess noise of rf superconducting quantum interference devices (SQUIDs), fabricated from thin niobium films and operated at 4.2 K, with rf bias frequencies of 0.15, 1.7, and 3 GHz. When the SQUIDs were operated in an open-loop configuration in the absence of low-frequency flux modulation, the demodulated rf voltage exhibited a substantial level 1/f noise, which was essentially independent of the rf bias frequency. As the rf bias frequency was increased, the crossover frequency at which the 1/f noise power was equal to the white noise power moved to higher frequencies, because of the reduction in white noise. On the other hand, when the SQUID was flux modulated at 50 kHz and operated in a flux locked loop, no 1/f noise was observed at frequencies above 0.5 Hz. A detailed description of how the combination of rf bias and flux modulation removes 1/f noise due to critical current fluctuations is given. Thus, the results demonstrate that the 1/f noise observed in these SQUIDs is generated by critical current fluctuations, rather than by the hopping of flux vortices in the niobium films.