Realisation of a Quantum Standard for AC Voltage: Overview of a European Research Project

The European JAWS project addresses the lack of instrumentation and knowledge for accurate and traceable measurement and generation of altemating (AC) voltage with arbitrary waveforms. The objective is to develop a standard based on a Josephson Arbitrary Waveform Synthesizer (JAWS), a precise instrument that links the generated voltage to the Josephson effect, which in turn relates the voltage to fundamental constants and a frequency. The standard aims at synthesized voltages up to 10 mV, frequencies up to 10 kHz and uncertainty smaller than 1 part in 104. This paper reports on the progress in developing tie key components for JAWS.