Basics of RF electronics

RF electronics deals with the generation, acquisition and manipulation of high-frequency signals. In particle accelerators signals of this kind are abundant, especially in the RF and beam diagnostics systems. In modern machines the complexity of the electronics assemblies dedicated to RF manipulation, beam diagnostics, and feedbacks is continuously increasing, following the demands for improvement of accelerator performance. However, these systems, and in particular their front-ends and back-ends, still rely on well-established basic hardware components and techniques, while down-converted and acquired signals are digitally processed exploiting the rapidly growing computational capability offered by the available technology. This lecture reviews the operational principles of the basic building blocks used for the treatment of high-frequency signals. Devices such as mixers, phase and amplitude detectors, modulators, filters, switches, directional couplers, oscillators, amplifiers, attenuators, and others are described in terms of equivalent circuits, scattering matrices, transfer functions; typical performance of commercially available models is presented. Owing to the breadth of the subject, this review is necessarily synthetic and non-exhaustive. Readers interested in the architecture of complete systems making use of the described components and devoted to generation and manipulation of the signals driving RF power plants and cavities may refer to the CAS lectures on Low-Level RF.Comment: 36 pages, contribution to the CAS - CERN Accelerator School: Specialised Course on RF for Accelerators; 8 - 17 Jun 2010, Ebeltoft, Denmar

Testing collapse models with levitated nanoparticles: the detection challenge

We consider a nanoparticle levitated in a Paul trap in ultrahigh cryogenic vacuum, and look for the conditions which allow for a stringent noninterferometric test of spontaneous collapse models. In particular we compare different possible techniques to detect the particle motion. Key conditions which need to be achieved are extremely low residual pressure and the ability to detect the particle at ultralow power. We compare three different detection approaches based respectively on a optical cavity, optical tweezer and a electrical readout, and for each one we assess advantages, drawbacks and technical challenges

Calibration and Characterization of the IceCube Photomultiplier Tube

Over 5,000 PMTs are being deployed at the South Pole to compose the IceCube neutrino observatory. Many are placed deep in the ice to detect Cherenkov light emitted by the products of high-energy neutrino interactions, and others are frozen into tanks on the surface to detect particles from atmospheric cosmic ray showers. IceCube is using the 10-inch diameter R7081-02 made by Hamamatsu Photonics. This paper describes the laboratory characterization and calibration of these PMTs before deployment. PMTs were illuminated with pulses ranging from single photons to saturation level. Parameterizations are given for the single photoelectron charge spectrum and the saturation behavior. Time resolution, late pulses and afterpulses are characterized. Because the PMTs are relatively large, the cathode sensitivity uniformity was measured. The absolute photon detection efficiency was calibrated using Rayleigh-scattered photons from a nitrogen laser. Measured characteristics are discussed in the context of their relevance to IceCube event reconstruction and simulation efforts.Comment: 40 pages, 12 figure

An investigation of the SNS Josephson junction as a three-terminal device

A particular phenomenon of the SNS Josephson junction was investigated; i.e., control by a current entering the normal region and leaving through one of the superconducting regions. The effect of the control current on the junction was found to be dependent upon the ration of the resistances of the two halves of the N layer. A low frequency, lumped, nonlinear model was proposed to describe the electrical characteristics of the device, and a method was developed to plot the dynamic junction resistance as a function of junction current. The effective thermal noise temperature of the sample was determined. Small signal linearized analysis of the device suggests its use as an impedance transformer, although geometric limitations must be overcome. Linear approximation indicates that it is reciprocal and no power gain is possible. It is felt that, with suitable metallurgical and geometrical improvements, the device has promise to become a superconducting transistor

MODELING AND TESTING OF ETHERNET TRANSFORMERS

Twisted-pair Ethernet is now the standard home and office last-mile network technology. For decades, the IEEE standard that defines Ethernet has required electrical isolation between the twisted pair cable and the Ethernet device. So, for decades, every Ethernet interface has used magnetic core Ethernet transformers to isolate Ethernet devices and keep users safe in the event of a potentially dangerous fault on the network media. The current state-of-the-art Ethernet transformers are miniature (<5mm diameter) ferrite-core toroids wrapped with approximately 10 to 30 turns of wire. As small as current Ethernet transformers are, they still limit further Ethernet device miniaturization and require a separate bulky package or jack housing. New coupler designs must be explored which are capable of exceptional miniaturization or on-chip fabrication. This dissertation thoroughly explores the performance of the current commercial Ethernet transformers to both increase understanding of the device's behavior and outline performance parameters for replacement devices. Lumped element and distributed circuit models are derived; testing schemes are developed and used to extract model parameters from commercial Ethernet devices. Transfer relation measurements of the commercial Ethernet transformers are compared against the model's behavior and it is found that the tuned, distributed models produce the best transfer relation match to the measured data. Process descriptions and testing results on fabricated thin-film dielectric-core toroid transformers are presented. The best results were found for a 32-turn transformer loaded with 100&#937;, the impedance of twisted pair cable. This transformer gave a flat response from about 10MHz to 40MHz with a height of approximately 0.45. For the fabricated transformer structures, theoretical methods to determine resistance, capacitance and inductance are presented. A special analytical and numerical analysis of the fabricated transformer inductance is presented. Planar cuts of magnetic slope fields around the dielectric-core toroid are shown that describe the effect of core height and winding density on flux uniformity without a magnetic core