Metrological Study of YBCO Josephson Junction Arrays Integrated in a Fabry-Perot Resonator

The application of high temperature superconductor Josephson junctions to voltage metrology is promising for many reasons, beyond the evident advantage of simplified cryogenics and reduced costs of the apparatus. Owing to their intrinsic non-hysteretic behavior, arrays of shunted bicrystal YBCO junctions are particularly interesting for the realization of an AC voltage standard with quantum accuracy. Moreover, shunted bicrystal YBCO junctions arrays are advantageous because of the reduced area of the junctions, the wide range of characteristic voltages, and large critical currents. However, some specific problems arise, like possible effects related to the higher operating temperature. Furthermore, fabrication technology sets tight constraints on the design of structures for the distribution of microwave currents along the array junctions. We investigated the step properties under millimeter wave irradiation at frequencies about 75 GHz of HTS junction and arrays prepared on bicrystal substrates having grain boundaries. High sensitivity techniques were adopted to evaluate the step flatness at nV level and assess the accuracy of the step voltage. A new method that makes use of an open resonator, was implemented to irradiate the array, providing synchronization of a large number of junctions.