Parametric amplification of electromagnetic waves produced by a flux-flow-oscillator made of YBaCuO Josephson junction arrays

Abstract

We observe parametric amplification of electromagnetic (EM) waves produced by a flux-flow oscillator made of YBa2Cu3O7 Josephson junctions arrays coupled to the resonant modes of a millimeter wave Fabry-Perot resonator at a pump frequency fP=45 GHz. For temperatures in the range (30-45) K the frequency fS of the EM signal to be amplified could be tuned continuously in the range (1-25) GHz by an applied B-field induced flux with a one-flux-quantum periodicity. Consequently, we measured a significant parametric gain that is almost frequency independent, with a maximum of (8-10.4) dB reached at 40K. For temperatures in the range (14-30) K the magnetic field tunability of fS is gradually suppressed to a minimum of (1-5) GHz range where a parametric gain between (5-6) dB was measured. With an appropriate adjustment of design/fabrication parameters our results suggests that the development of tunable MW generators/detectors, as well as parametric amplifiers made of high transition temperature superconductors and operating in a wide range of temperatures (10 mK-77K) is a reasonable and appealing possibility.