Cryogenic differential amplifier for NMR applications

Abstract

We have designed and characterized a cryogenic amplifier for use in $^3$He NMR spectrometry. The amplifier, with a power consumption of $\sim 2.5$ mW, works at temperatures down to 4~K. It has a hi-impedance input for measuring a signal from NMR resonant circuit, and a 50 $\mathrm{\Omega}$ differential input which can be used for pick-up compensation and gain calibration. At 4.2 K, the amplifier has a voltage gain of 45, output resistance 146 $\mathrm{\Omega}$ and a 4.4 MHz bandwidth starting from DC. At 1 MHz, the voltage and current noise amount to 1.3 $\mbox{nV}/\sqrt{\mbox{Hz}}$ and 12 $\mbox{fA}/\sqrt{\mbox{Hz}}$, respectively, which yields an optimal source impedance of $\sim 100$ k$\mathrm{\Omega}$.