Development of Josephson voltage standards

Neurology & clinical neurophysiolog

Chapter Development of Josephson voltage standards

Neurology & clinical neurophysiolog

Programmierbare Josephson-Arrays für Impedanzmessungen

An innovative way of networking two programmable Josephson arrays generating synchronous waveforms for impedance ratio measurements, as the first of its kind, is presented. This pioneering approach of the Josephson Impedance Bridges is far more flexible than conventional bridges at the same level of measurement uncertainty. Results prove that aside from having the capability of measuring over a wider frequency range, the Josephson bridge permits measurements on two impedances with any value of phase angle between them. In the two-terminal-pair Josephson bridge setup, measurements are made for a 1:1 resistance ratio at the 10-k level in the frequency range between 25 Hz and 10 kHz. Uncertainties reach to levels of better than a few parts in 108 and results agree to the values measured from conventional impedance bridges. Two methods for four-terminal impedance measurements have been investigated, the potential comparison circuit and the coaxial setup. Both methods are capable of measuring from DC to 6 kHz with uncertainties to 10−8. The four-terminal-pair coaxial setup has potential to decrease the relative uncertainty down to 10−9 once systematic errors are analyzed and canceled. Thermal converter measurements have been made to investigate the effects of transients on stepwise approximated sinewaves. Rms measurements show that transients limit the uncertainty to about 10−6 at 1 kHz. A simple model with an equivalent time constant is presented to evaluate the influence of different parameters on the shape of the transients. It has been experimentally established, at the 10−8 level of uncertainty for the determination of impedance ratios, that the variations of the transients in stepwise approximated waveforms can be neglected when using the fundamental component of rectangular waveforms. Quantization at up to 10 kHz has been confirmed by varying the bias current of the Josephson arrays resulting in constant resistance ratios within the measurement resolution.Ein innovativer Weg, zwei programmierbare Josephson-Schaltungen für Impedanz-Verhältnismessungen zu verknüpfen, wird erstmals in dieser Arbeit präsentiert. Dieser neuartige Ansatz einer Josephson-Impedanzmessbrücke ist flexibler als konventionelle Impedanzmessbrücken bei gleicher Messunsicherheit. Es wird gezeigt, dass neben der Möglichkeit, über einen wesentlich größeren Frequenzbereich zu messen, die Josephson-Impedanzmessbrücke auch Messungen sehr unterschiedlicher Impedanzverhältnisse und beliebiger Phasenwinkel erlaubt. In einer Zwei-Tor-Anordnung der Josephson-Impedanzmessbrücke wurden Messungen für ein 1:1 Widerstandsverhältnis bei 10 k im Frequenzbereich von 25 Hz bis 10 kHz durchgeführt. Die Ergebnisse stimmen mit denen einer konventionellen Messbrücke im Rahmen der Unsicherheit von wenigen 10−8 überein. Für eine Vier-Tor-Anordnung wurden zwei unterschiedliche Methoden untersucht, eine Spannungsverhältnisschaltung und eine koaxiale Vier-Tor-Anordnung. Letztere hat das Potential, Unsicherheiten von 10−9 zu erreichen, sobald systematische Fehler eliminiert sind. Um Effekte der Transienten in stufenförmig approximierten Sinuswellen zu untersuchen, wurden Messungen an Thermokonvertern durchgeführt. Diese Effektivmessungen zeigen, dass Transienten die relative Messunsicherheiten auf etwa 10−6 bei einer Frequenz von 1 kHz beschränken. Es wird ein einfaches Modell vorgestellt, das die Form der Transienten in Abhängigkeit der wesentlichen Parameter beschreibt. Experimentell konnte bei Impedanzverhältnismessungen mit einer relativen Messunsicherheit von 10−8 nachgewiesen werden, dass die Variation der Transienten in stufenförmig approximierten Wellenformen vernachlässigbar ist, wenn die fundamentale Komponente eines Rechtecksignals verwendet wird. Quantisierte Plateaus wurden bis zu Frequenzen von 10 kHz gefunden, bei denen die Variation des angelegten Stroms durch die Josephson-Schaltungen keine Veränderung des Impedanzverhältnisses zur Folge hatte

Driving a low critical current Josephson junction array with a mode-locked laser

Data for article "Driving a low critical current Josephson junction array with a mode-locked laser"

Probing Many-body Localization with a Programmable Superconducting Quantum Processor

In many-body localized (MBL) systems, entanglement propagates throughout the system despite the absence of transport. Early experiments have relied on population measurements to indirectly probe these entanglement dynamics. However, because the entanglement results from phase relationships between localized orbitals, it is more naturally probed with phase sensitive algorithms and measurement. In this thesis, we use an array of nearest neighbor coupled superconducting qubits to introduce phase sensitive protocols to the experimental study of MBL systems. We establish that system is MBL by demonstrating disorder induced ergodicity breaking and the presence of effective nonlocal interactions. We then use density matrix reconstructions to observe the hallmark slow growth of entanglement and provide a site-resolved spatial and temporal map of the developing entanglement. We also inspect the capacity of the MBL phase to preserve quantum correlations by observing the decay of distillable entanglement when Bell pair embedded in an MBL environment and dephased by remote excitation. In superconducting quantum processors, such as that used in the MBL study above, dissipation leads to computational errors and must be minimized. To that end, we also describe coherence engineering experiments in terms of the low power internal quality factor Qi of coplanar waveguide (CPW) resonators, a figure of merit characterizing dissipation in the quantum computing regime. We investigate titanium nitride as a superconducting base metal for quantum circuits. By optimizing the deposition conditions, we achieve a record low-power Qi in CPW resonators. We also characterize the dielectric loss due to flux trapping hole arrays. Since flux traps are commonly used to prevent magnetic vortex formation and dielectric loss is a limiting dissipation mechanism, it is important to estimate the contribution of flux traps to the dielectric dissipation budget. We find that for reasonable hole patterns the dielectric loss can be small while preventing vortex formation

A general-purpose pulse sequencer for quantum computing

Thesis (M. Eng.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, 2005.This electronic version was submitted by the student author. The certified thesis is available in the Institute Archives and Special Collections.Includes bibliographical references (p. 165-170).Quantum mechanics presents a more general and potentially more powerful model of computation than classical systems. Quantum bits have many physically different representations which nonetheless share a common need for modulating pulses of electromagnetic waves. This thesis presents the design and evaluates the implementation of a general-purpose sequencer which supports fast, programmable pulses; a flexible, open design; and feedback operation for adaptive algorithms. The sequencer achieves a timing resolution, minimum pulse duration, and minimum delay of 10 nanoseconds; it has 64 simultaneously-switching, independent digital outputs and 8 digital inputs for triggering or feedback. Multiple devices can operate in a daisy chain to facilitate adding and removing channels. An FPGA is used to implement a firmware network stack and a specialized pulse processor core whose modules are all interconnected using the Wishbone bus standard. Users can write pulse programs in an assembly language and control the device from a host computer over an Ethernet network. An embedded web server provides an intuitive, graphical user interface, while a non-interactive, efficient UDP protocol provides programmatic access to third-party software. The performance characteristics, tolerances, and cost of the device are measured and compared with those of contemporary research and commercial offerings. Future improvements and extensions are suggested. All circuit schematics, PCB layouts, source code, and design documents are released under an open source license.by Paul Tân Thế Phạm.M.Eng

NASA Tech Briefs, May 1991

Topics: New Product Ideas; NASA TU Services; Electronic Components and Circuits; Electronic Systems; Physical Sciences; Materials; Computer Programs; Mechanics; Machinery; Fabrication Technology; Mathematics and Information Sciences; Life Sciences

The Fifth NASA Symposium on VLSI Design

The fifth annual NASA Symposium on VLSI Design had 13 sessions including Radiation Effects, Architectures, Mixed Signal, Design Techniques, Fault Testing, Synthesis, Signal Processing, and other Featured Presentations. The symposium provides insights into developments in VLSI and digital systems which can be used to increase data systems performance. The presentations share insights into next generation advances that will serve as a basis for future VLSI design

The Effects of Gap Junction Modulation on Myocardial Structure and Function

The aim of the work in this thesis was to investigate the effects of gap junction modulation during acute myocardial infarction (MI) on ventricular arrhythmogenesis in the settings of acute reperfusion and chronic post-myocardial infarction. Ventricular arrhythmias can occur during reperfusion because of abrupt changes in electrophysiology, whilst arrhythmias occur post-MI because the healed infarct scar forms a substrate for re-entry, with increased inhomogeneity of scarring being associated with greater arrhythmia susceptibility. The effects gap junction modulation on reperfusion arrhythmogenesis were studied in an ex vivo rat model of acute ischaemia-reperfusion. Gap junction modulators were administered to hearts subjected to left anterior descending artery occlusion followed by reperfusion. The electrophysiological changes that accompany ischaemia-reperfusion were studied using optical mapping. Gap junction modulators, AAP10 and carbenoxolone, reduced the incidence of reperfusion arrhythmias. This was associated with the attenuation of the abrupt recovery of conduction during reperfusion, which may underlie their antiarrhythmic effects. A four-week rat chronic myocardial infarction model was developed to study the effects of acute gap junction modulation on late post-MI arrhythmias. Gap junction modulators, rotigaptide and carbenoxolone, were administered acutely for 7 days from the time of surgical MI, and rats were studied at 4 weeks post-MI with ECG-telemetry, programmed electrical stimulation, optical mapping, histomorphometry and connexin43 immunohistochemistry. Enhancing gap junction coupling with rotigaptide acutely during MI reduced heterogeneities in infarct border zone scarring and reduced susceptibility to ventricular arrhythmias on programmed electrical stimulation. Histomorphometric studies support a possible mechanism whereby homogenisation of the acute ischaemic insult and the cell death process may result in more homogeneous scarring and a less arrhythmic healed substrate. Gap junction modulation was anti-arrhythmic in the acute reperfusion setting, and the enhancement of coupling during acute MI may represent a novel therapeutic strategy to modify the morphology of the healed infarct and alter post-infarction arrhythmia susceptibility