Development of KI-TWPAs for the DARTWARS Project

• Published in: IEEE transactions on applied superconductivity Vol. 34; no. 3; pp. 1 - 5
• Main Authors: Ahrens, F., Ferri, E., Avallone, G., Barone, C., Borghesi, M., Callegaro, L., Carapella, G., Caricato, A. P., Carusotto, I., Cian, A., D'Elia, A., Gioacchino, D. Di, Enrico, E., Falferi, P., Fasolo, L., Faverzani, M., Filatrella, G., Gatti, C., Giachero, A., Giubertoni, D., Granata, V., Guarcello, C., Labranca, D., Leo, A., Ligi, C., Maccarrone, G., Mantegazzini, F., Margesin, B., Maruccio, G., Mezzena, R., Monteduro, A. G., Moretti, R., Nucciotti, A., Oberto, L., Origo, L., Pagano, S., Piedjou, A. S., Piersanti, L., Rettaroli, A., Rizzato, S., Tocci, S., Vinante, A., Zannoni, M.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: New York IEEE 01-05-2024; The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, Inc. (IEEE)
• Subjects: Amplification; Bandwidth; Bandwidths; Cosmic microwave background; Cryogenic electronics; Dark matter; Design optimization; Detectors; High gain; Inductance; Kinetic theory; Low temperature; microfabrication; microwave amplifiers; microwave devices; Neutrinos; Noise levels; Parametric amplifiers; Photonic band gap; Qubits (quantum computing); Resistance; superconducting materials; Superconductivity; Thickness measurement; Three-wave mixing; Transmission line measurements; Traveling wave amplifiers; Traveling waves
• ISSN: 1051-8223; 1558-2515
• DOI: 10.1109/TASC.2024.3350602

Noise at the quantum limit over a broad bandwidth is a fundamental requirement for future cryogenic experiments for neutrino mass measurements, dark matter searches, and Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB) measurements as well as for fast high-fidelity read-out of superconducting qubits. In the last years, Josephson Parametric Amplifiers (JPA) have demonstrated noise levels close to the quantum limit, but due to their narrow bandwidth, only few detectors or qubits per line can be read out in parallel. An alternative and innovative solution is based on superconducting parametric amplification exploiting the travelling-wave concept. Within the Detector Array Readout with Travelling Wave AmplifieRS (DARTWARS) project, we develop Kinetic Inductance Travelling-Wave Parametric Amplifiers (KI-TWPAs) for low temperature detectors and qubit read-out. KI-TWPAs are typically operated in a three-wave mixing (3WM) mode and are characterised by a high gain, a high saturation power, a large amplification bandwidth, and nearly quantum limited noise performance. The goal of the DARTWARS project is to optimise the KI-TWPA design, explore new materials, and investigate alternative fabrication processes in order to enhance the overall performance of the amplifier. In this contribution we present the advancements made by the DARTWARS collaboration to produce a working prototype of a KI-TWPA, from the fabrication to the characterisation.