NOTICE: Due to a lapse in annual appropriations, most of this website is not being updated. Learn more.
Form submissions will still be accepted but will not receive responses at this time. Sections of this site for programs using non-appropriated funds (such as NVLAP) or those that are excepted from the shutdown (such as CHIPS and NVD) will continue to be updated.
An official website of the United States government
Here’s how you know
Official websites use .gov
A .gov website belongs to an official government organization in the United States.
Secure .gov websites use HTTPS
A lock (
) or https:// means you’ve safely connected to the .gov website. Share sensitive information only on official, secure websites.
Akim Babenko, Nathan Flowers-Jacobs, Anna Fox, Paul Dresselhaus, Zoya Popovic, Samuel P. Benz
Abstract
This paper presents a superconducting voltage source that generates microwave modulated waveforms with quantum-based stability. The voltage source - an RF Josephson Arbitrary Waveform Synthesizer (RF-JAWS) - uses a superconducting IC with an array of 4500 series-connected Josephson junctions (JJs) that are embedded in a coplanar waveguide transmission line. The JJs are driven with current pulses that force each JJ to generate voltage pulses with a quantized integrated area. A pulse sequence is created using a delta-sigma algorithm to generate a 101-tone waveform with a 40 MHz instantaneous bandwidth around 1.005 GHz with a flat power distribution of -53 dBm and a Schroeder phase distribution. The JJ's quantum-based nonlinearity produces an amplitude stability with respect to various drive and bias parameters of ±0.005 dB and a detrended phase stability of ±0.05°. Another delta-sigma pulse sequence generates a 10 MHz Quadrature-Phase-Shift-Keying (QPSK) waveform on a 1.005 GHz carrier that has the same stability and the mean error vector magnitude of -48 dB. This work is a step toward creating a reference source for power and cross-frequency phase calibrations, as well as a reference modulated-signal source for calibrating telecommunication links.
Citation
IEEE Transactions on Microwave Theory and Techniques
Babenko, A.
, Flowers-Jacobs, N.
, Fox, A.
, Dresselhaus, P.
, Popovic, Z.
and Benz, S.
(2023),
Quantum-Based Microwave Modulated Waveforms, IEEE Transactions on Microwave Theory and Techniques, [online], https://doi.org/10.1109/TMTT.2023.3297364, https://tsapps.nist.gov/publication/get_pdf.cfm?pub_id=935292
(Accessed October 9, 2025)