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Wide-band frequency modulation of a terahertz intrinsic Josephson junction emitter of a cuprate superconductor

Nature Photonics volume 18, pages 267–275 (2024)Cite this article

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Abstract

Communication using terahertz (∼1012 Hz) electromagnetic waves is critical for developing sixth-generation wireless network infrastructures. Conflictions between stable radiation and frequency modulation of terahertz sources impede the superposing of transmitting signals on carrier waves. The Josephson junctions included in a cuprate superconductor radiate terahertz waves with frequencies proportional to the bias voltages. Thus, the modulation of the bias voltage leads to the modulation of the Josephson plasma emission (JPE) frequency. This study aims to demonstrate the generation of frequency-modulated (FM) terahertz continuous waves from Josephson junctions. A FM bandwidth of up to 40 GHz was achieved when 3 GHz sinusoidal waves were superimposed on 840–890 GHz carrier waves radiated by a JPE. The results verify that the instantaneous JPE frequency follows the gigahertz-modulated bias voltage. The wide-band FM terahertz generation by a monolithic device shows a sharp contrast to the mode-lock frequency comb constructed using highly sophisticated optics on a bench. A further increase of the modulation amplitude facilitates up- or downconversion of frequencies over more than one octave. The obtained FM bandwidth exhibited an improvement of two orders of magnitude in the demodulation signal-to-noise ratio compared with the amplitude-modulated waves. The demonstrated FM JPE stimulates further research on terahertz communication technology and metrology using superconducting devices.

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Fig. 1: Comb-like spectrum with 3 GHz and 25 dBm modulation and the experimental setup.
Fig. 2: Amplitude and frequency dependence of spectra with microwave bias modulations and basic device properties.
Fig. 3: Centre frequency (mesa voltage) evolution of the spectra.
Fig. 4: Temperature dependence of radiation properties.
Fig. 5: Comparison of 10 kHz and 3 GHz modulations.
Fig. 6: Schematic description of synchronization among the stacked IJJs for high-frequency modulation and low-frequency modulation.

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Data availability

The main data supporting the findings of this study are available within this Article and its Supplementary Information. Further data are available from the corresponding author upon reasonable request.

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Acknowledgements

I.K. thanks S. Dhillon, J. Tignon, Y. Uzawa and Y. Irimajiri for discussions on terahertz spectroscopy. This work was partially conducted at University of Tsukuba and Argonne National Laboratory. G.K. and M.T. express their gratitude to Y. Kaneko for technical assistance with sample fabrication. This work was supported by the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science (JSPS) KAKENHI (grant numbers JP20H02606 (to I.K.) and JP19H02540 (to M.T.)) and ISHIZUE 2023 of Kyoto University (to I.K.).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Electronic Science and Engineering, Kyoto University, Kyoto, Japan

    Masashi Miyamoto, Ryota Kobayashi & Itsuhiro Kakeya

  2. Graduate School of Science and Technology, University of Tsukuba, Tsukuba, Japan

    Genki Kuwano & Manabu Tsujimoto

  3. Global Research and Development Center for Business by Quantum-AI Technology (G-QuAT), National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology (AIST), Tsukuba, Japan

    Manabu Tsujimoto

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  1. Masashi Miyamoto
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Contributions

I.K. and M.T. conceived and designed the experiments. M.M., R.K. and I.K. performed the measurements, analysed and interpreted the data. M.T. and G.K. designed and fabricated the JPE device. I.K. and M.M. wrote the paper with input from R.K. and M.T. All authors participated in reviewing and revising the manuscript.

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Correspondence to Itsuhiro Kakeya.

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Nature Photonics thanks Kaveh Delfanazari, Vladimir Krasnov and the other, anonymous, reviewer(s) for their contribution to the peer review of this work.

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Miyamoto, M., Kobayashi, R., Kuwano, G. et al. Wide-band frequency modulation of a terahertz intrinsic Josephson junction emitter of a cuprate superconductor. Nat. Photon. 18, 267–275 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41566-023-01348-0

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