A Twisted Pair Cryogenic Filter

Abstract

In low temperature transport measurements, there is frequently a need to protect a device at cryogenic temperatures from thermal noise originating in warmer parts of the experiment. There are also a wide range of experiments, such as high precision transport measurements on low impedance devices, in which a twisted-pair wiring configuration is useful to eliminate magnetic pickup. Furthermore, with the rapid growth in complexity of cryogenic experiments, as in the field of quantum computing, there is a need for more filtered lines into a cryostat than are often available using the bulky low temperature filters in use today. We describe a low cost filter that provides the needed RF attenuation while allowing for tens of wires in a twisted pair configuration with an RF-tight connection to the sample holder. Our filter consists of manganin twisted pairs wrapped in copper tape with a light-tight connection to the shield of the sample holder. We demonstrate agreement of our filter with a theoretical model up to the noise floor of our measurement apparatus (90 dB). We describe operation of our filter in noise thermometry experiments down to 10 mK.