P4. Thick-film microwave antennas attached to the intrinsic Josephson junctions using photolithography and electroplating.

Description:

Intrinsic Josephson junctions are the superconducting tunneling devices naturally occurring in an all-single-crystalline material. High superconducting critical temperature and the corresponding energy gap allow reaching high frequencies (several THz) without breaking superconductivity. Intrinsic Josephson junctions can be utilized in various superconducting devices, like THz-mixers or for building the standard of Volt.

To properly catch the microwave radiation, the stacks of intrinsic junctions should have an antenna. However, planar thin-film solutions have a problem. The bulk single crystal which is always present and which supports stacks of intrinsic junctions screens out the microwaves.

The project will be devoted to building 3D self-supporting antennas on top of the stacks of intrinsic junctions, i.e. avoiding the screening from the bulk. These structures should be “sculptured” using several-step photolithography and electroplating (Cu).

The project offers opportunity of being the first to introduce a new technique and new approach to the problem. If successful, it will likely lead to a publication.
If not, it will provide a student with an ample enough experimental material to write a report anyway.

August Yurgens
Mattias Torstensson