Design Method of Quasi-Lumped Element Bandpass Filters Using Superconducting Coplanar Waveguide for Millimeter-Wave Multichroic Imaging

Abstract

An on-chip band-defining filter coupled with a superconducting photon detector is a promising technology for developing multi-band imaging cameras at millimeter and submillimeter wavelengths. In this paper, we present the design of on-chip bandpass filters based on coplanar waveguide geometry, which can be easily integrated into large-format multi-band detector arrays. A lumped element filter design is suitable not only for achieving a compact footprint but also for suppressing harmonics to reduce band-to-band crosstalk in a multiplexer. However, the coplanar waveguide geometry and the photolithography process rule limit the maximum available inductance and capacitance of lumped elements, which does not sufficiently meet the requirements of filter circuits. To overcome this limitation, we have established a design method for quasi-lumped element filters, in which the maximum element size is relaxed to a quarter wavelength, exceeding the ideal lumped element size. We achieved design solutions for 150, 220, and 270 GHz 8th-order Chebyshev bandpass filters and a triplexer. We also report on the measurement results of a scaled model of the bandpass filter, demonstrating the validity of our proposed filter design.