RF waveform synthesizers with quantum-based voltage accuracy for communications metrology

Published

February 11, 2019

Author(s)

Peter F. Hopkins, Justus A. Brevik, Manuel C. Castellanos Beltran, Nathan E. Flowers-Jacobs, Anna E. Fox, David I. Olaya, Christine A. Donnelly, Paul D. Dresselhaus, Samuel P. Benz

Abstract

We report on NIST’s development of Josephson junction-based programmable reference sources to synthesize quantum-accurate, spectrally-pure waveforms for characterizing and improving next generation communication devices and systems. The goal is to provide reference sources that together span the entire radio frequency (RF) band, equivalent to 7 orders of magnitude in frequency (20 kHz - 300 GHz). To synthesize waveforms in the microwave frequency band, we are extending the existing Josephson arbitrary waveform synthesizer (JAWS) technology that is used for ac voltage metrology at audio frequencies (

Citation

IEEE Transactions on Applied Superconductivity

Volume

29

Issue

5

Pub Type

Journals

Download Paper

https://doi.org/10.1109/TASC.2019.2898407

Keywords

millimeter-wave, RF, waveform synthesis, superconducting electronics, Josephson junction, single flux quantum, reference source

Citation

Hopkins, P. , Brevik, J. , Castellanos, M. , Flowers-Jacobs, N. , Fox, A. , Olaya, D. , Donnelly, C. , Dresselhaus, P. and Benz, S. (2019), RF waveform synthesizers with quantum-based voltage accuracy for communications metrology, IEEE Transactions on Applied Superconductivity, [online], https://doi.org/10.1109/TASC.2019.2898407 (Accessed October 21, 2025)