A high gain travelling-wave parametric amplifier based on three-wave mixing

TL;DR

This paper extends the theory of Josephson junction traveling wave parametric amplifiers to include three-wave mixing, proposing a scheme to achieve high gain by engineering the dispersion properties of the device.

Contribution

The authors develop a comprehensive multimode theoretical framework and propose a novel design strategy to enhance gain in TWPAs through dispersion engineering.

Findings

The gain is reduced due to dispersion and up-conversion effects in existing models.

The developed theory aligns quantitatively with experimental data.

A dispersion-engineered design can achieve exponential gain growth with device length.

Abstract

We extend the theory for a Josephson junction travelling wave parametric amplifier (TWPA) operating in the three-wave mixing regime and we propose a scheme for achieving high gain. The continuous three-mode model [P. K. Tien, J. Appl. Phys. 29, 1347 (1958)] is on one hand extended to describe a discrete chain of Josephson junctions at high frequencies close to the spectral cutoff where there is no up-conversion. On the other hand, we also develop a continuous multimode theory for the low-frequency region where the frequency dispersion is close to linear. We find that in both cases the gain is significantly reduced compared to the prediction by the continuous three-mode model as the result of increasingly strong dispersion at the high frequencies and generation of up-converted modes at the low frequencies. The developed theory is in quantitative agreement with experimental observations. To recover the high gain, we propose to engineer a chain with dispersive features to form a two-band frequency spectrum and to place the pump frequency within the upper band close to the spectral cutoff. We prove that there exists a sweet spot, where the signal and the pump are phase matched, while the up-conversion is inhibited. This results in a high gain which grows exponentially with the length of the TWPA.