Electrically-Small Superconducting Wide-Bandwidth Receiver

ABSTRACT: The overal goal of this STTR project is to develop a small size, weight and power receiver system based on SQUID array technology. High sensitivity, linearity, and wide bandwidth of SQUID arrays antenna sensors will be enable electrically and physically small antenna with extremely wide bandwidth from dc to 2 GHz. The SQUID arrays will be fabricated using high-temperature superconductor ion damaged Josephson junction fabrication process suitable for integration of large number of SQUID devices on a single chip. This would afford the use of small size robust 70K cryocoolers and will make overall system suitable for small airborne deployment. HYPRES and University of California team will design, simulate, fabricate and test SQUID arrays based on novel bi-SQUID cells. We will develop an optimal design for wide-band 2D arrays with area distribution to achieve the highest linearity over entire bandwidth. BENEFIT: Small size, highly linear, sensitive wide-band receivers will impact a wide-range of applications from commercial and military satcom and sigint systems to wireless basestations and data links. Secure and small footprint communications between UAVs, airplanes and ground terminals will be enabled.