AN ELECTRO-OPTICAL OUTPUT SYSTEM

THE PURPOSES OF THIS PROJECT ARE (1) TO DEVELOP AN OPERATIONAL ELECTRO-OPTICAL OUTPUT DEVICE FOR SUPERCONDUCTING CIRCUITS THAT WILL ALLOW THE IMPLEMENTATION OF HIGH DENSITY OPTICAL INTERCONNECTS AND (2) TO ESTABLISH MINIMUM DESIGN RULES FOR ITS IMPLEMENTATION. THIS PROJECT EXPANDS ON PREVIOUS WORK IN OPTICAL EFFECTS IN SUPERCONDUCTING DEVICES. DEVICE CHARACTERIZATION INCLUDES, BUT IS NOT LIMITED TO, MEASUREMENTS OF BANDWIDTH, RISE TIME, IMPEDANCE, PHASE VELOCITY, OPTICAL ILLUMINATION POWER LEVEL EFFECTS, AND IMPULSE RESPONSE. THE SUCCESSFUL DEVELOPMENT OF AN OPTICAL OUTPUT TECHNIQUE WOULD RESOLVE SEVERAL PROBLEMS IN IMPLEMENTING SUPERCONDUCTING TECHNOLOGY,THEREBY REDUCING THE HEAT LOAD DUE TO THE INTERFACE, REDUCING NOISE SUSCEPTIBILITY, AND INCREASING INTERCONNECT DENSITY. IN PHASE I, AN EXISTING FOUNDRY FOR SUPERCONDUCTING MICROELECTRONIC CIRCUITRY IS BEING USED TO BUILD A TEST DEVICE THAT WOULD ESTABLISH THE VIABILITY OF USING A MODIFIED ELECTRO-OPTICAL SAMPLING TECHNIQUE WITH JOSEPHSON JUNCTION-BASED CIRCUITS.