Active HTS Switch for Microwave Circuits

Superconductor Technologies Inc. has grown a fully oriented A-axis film and plans to characterize the film and build several candidate switch topologies for it. An A-axis film has the characteristics of directional anisotropy where the critical current parallel to the crystal planes is higher than that perpendicular to it. An attempt will be made to build a switch where its non-linear critical current characteristics will be used to modulate current in a plane orthogonal to the primary direction. This has the promise of modulating a large current with a smaller one, i.e., gain. This phenomenon will also be measured to see if it is useful as an RF switch, where a small DC current orthogonal to the preferred direction can modulate the RF current.