Operation of Unshielded Kinetic-Inductance Traveling-Wave Parametric Amplifiers in Multi-Tesla Fields

Abstract

Cryogenic parametric amplifiers are used to amplify radio-frequency signals for a range of applications in basic and applied science. Both Josephson Parametric Amplifiers and Josephson Traveling-Wave Parametric Amplifiers have been used as first-stage amplifiers enabling readout chains operating within a few quanta of the quantum limit. However, these devices are highly sensitive to magnetic fields, having critical current suppressed by the Fraunhofer effect, requiring substantial field-free zones. In a dark matter axion search experiment, axions convert to detectable microwave photons in the presence of a strong magnetic field, necessitating amplifiers that can reliably operate close to these environments. Kinetic-inductance Traveling-Wave Parametric Amplifiers (KTWPAs) may be the ideal candidate for this type of application having high critical magnetic field of the materials used throughout their construction. In this letter we demonstrate that KTWPAs can provide high gain (>20dB) over a multi-GHz bandwidth in spite of from multiple exposures to multi-Tesla fields. Further, we explore operational characteristics of these devices under harsh conditions as a function of overall field strength, device orientation within the field, applied bias current, and pump power & frequency. In so doing, we find KTWPA gain vanishes in devices oriented perpendicularly to a field of 0.02T, but gain values >10dB are achievable in fields over 1T when oriented near~parallel to the device plane, with peak gain achieved with an applied 0.25T to 0.5T field. It is our expectation that KTWPAs will expand the accessibility of quantum-limited RF measurements in the presence of Tesla-scale fields.