Measurement of the Microwave Nonlinear Response of Combined Ferroelectric-Superconductor Transmission Lines

Published

June 3, 2009

Author(s)

James C. Booth, Nathan D. Orloff, Jordi Mateu

Abstract

We have fabricated nonlinear transmission lines and resonators that incorporate both distributed nonlinear capacitance and distributed nonlinear inductance in order to explore how such nonlinear elements interact in a combined nonlinear device. This work is motivated by the desire to reduce the nonlinearity associated with high temperature superconductor microwave circuits by active cancellation through the use of nonlinear dielectrics. Although we do not observe any direct evidence for the cancellation or compensation of inductive HTS nonlinear effects due to the capacitive nonlinearity of integrated ferroelectric materials, we do observe a cross-over as a function of temperature from capacitive-dominated nonlinearity to inductive-dominated nonlinearity. While not evident in our measurements and analysis, it is possible that compensation effects do occur, but over a temperature range that is too narrow for the present experimental results to resolve. These results do bound the temperature range over which any expected compensation will occur for the specific geometry of sample used, and suggest the use of thinner nonlinear dielectrics will move the cross-over region further from the superconductor Tc, allowing a more thorough exploration of these nonlinear interactions at lower temperatures.

Citation

IEEE Transactions on Applied Superconductivity

Pub Type

Journals

Keywords

coplanar waveguide, ferroelectric, nonlinear response, transmission line

Citation

Booth, J. , Orloff, N. and Mateu, J. (2009), Measurement of the Microwave Nonlinear Response of Combined Ferroelectric-Superconductor Transmission Lines, IEEE Transactions on Applied Superconductivity (Accessed October 10, 2025)