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At least 289 records · Page 16

A superconducting nanowire binary shift register

We present a design for a superconducting nanowire binary shift register, which stores digital states in the form of circulating supercurrents in high-kinetic-inductance loops. Adjacent superconducting loops are connected with nanocryotrons, three-terminal electrothermal switches, and fed with an alternating two-phase clock to synchronously transfer the digital state between the loops. A two-loop serial-input shift register was fabricated with thin-film NbN and a bit error rate of less than 10 –4 was achieved, when operated at a maximum clock frequency of 83 MHz and in an out-of-plane magnetic field of up to 6 mT. A shift register based on this technology offers an integrated solution for low-power readout of superconducting nanowire single photon detector arrays and is capable of interfacing directly with room-temperature electronics and operating unshielded in high magnetic field environments.

75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS, SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND↗

3D track reconstruction of low-energy electrons in the MIGDAL low pressure optical time projection chamber

Here, we demonstrate three-dimensional track reconstruction of electrons in a low pressure (50 Torr) optical TPC consisting of two glass GEMs with an ITO strip readout in CF 4 and CF 4 /Ar mixtures. The reconstructed tracks show a variety of event topologies, including short tracks from photoelectrons induced by 55 Fe 5.9 keV X-rays and long tracks from gamma ray interactions and beta decays. Algorithms for event identification and track ridge detection are discussed as well as multiple methods for integrating information from the camera image and ITO waveforms with the goal of full 3D reconstruction of the track.

46 INSTRUMENTATION RELATED TO NUCLEAR SCIENCE AND ↗

Studies of BONuS12 Radial GEM Detector and TCS Beam Spin Asymmetry in CLAS12

The Barely Offshell Nucleon Structure (BONuS12) experiment adopted the concept of spectator tagging technique to study the nearly-free neutron structure function Fn2 in the CLAS12 of Jefferson Lab. A novel Radial Time Projection Chamber (RTPC) detector was built, tested and integrated into the CLAS12 system to detect a back-moving low momentum tagged proton in d(e,ep)X deep-inelastic scattering. It was a 40 cm long gaseous detector consisting of 3 layers of cylindrical GEM foils for the charge amplification, with the data readout directly from the surrounding padboard. The RTPC detected the recoiling spectator proton, in coincidence with the scattered electron in the CLAS12. Nucleon structure functions are directly related to the partonic functions, quarks momentum distribution in one dimension. A Generalized Parton Distribution (GPD) came to the lime-light as it encodes the information of both longitudinal momentum and transverse position of partons inside the nucleons. Factorization of hard process such as DVCS allows to access GPDs. Timelike Compton Scattering (TCS), ?p ? ??p, is another process that allows to access the GPDs. TCS is studied experimentally in the CLAS12 of Jefferson lab using the quasi-real photoproduction of time-like photon which eventually decays to lepton pair. This dissertation presents the concept of spectator tagging in BONuS12, and the research and development efforts during the BONuS12 preparation leading up to the successful data-taking during spring and summer 2020. In addition, analysis framework to extract the beam spin asymmetry of TCS events through the CLAS12 Run group A data is presented.

Poudel, Jiwan↗

Franck-Condon Tuning of Optical Cycling Centers by Organic Functionalization

Laser induced electronic excitations that spontaneously emit photons and decay directly to the initial ground state (“optical cycling transitions”) are used in quantum information and precision measurement for state initialization and readout. To extend this primarily atomic technique to large, organic compounds, we theoretically investigate optical cycling of alkaline earth phenoxides and their functionalized derivatives. We find that optical cycle leakage due to wave function mismatch is low in these species, and can be further suppressed by using chemical substitution to boost the electron-withdrawing strength of the aromatic molecular ligand through resonance and induction effects. This provides a straightforward way to use chemical functional groups to construct optical cycling moieties for laser cooling, state preparation, and quantum measurement.

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSIC↗

Telecom-Luminescent and Room Temperature Coherent Tetrathiafulvalene-Based Qubits in Spin-Rich Solids

One of the main challenges facing quantum information science (QIS) is the development of robust qubits that can be op-erated under ambient conditions. Current state-of-the-art anionic nitrogen vacancy center (NV–) defect qubits are robust enough to be operated at room temperature but lack scalability and tunability. These are areas where molecular qubits excel, although they typically suffer from poor air stability and fast decoherence at elevated temperatures and in magneti-cally noisy environments. Organic-based systems offer advantages to this end, although examples retaining room tem-perature coherence are still rare. Furthermore, most organic-based systems lack optical transitions similar to NV– centers that could allow for optical initialization and readout. Here we report two new organic-based qubit candidates that demonstrate room temperature coherence in nuclear and electron spin-rich environments. These qubits luminesce far into the near-infrared (NIR, 700-1700 nm) and telecom (~1260-1625 nm) regions, ideal for biological sensing and com-munications applications, respectively.

37 INORGANIC, ORGANIC, PHYSICAL, AND ANALYTICAL CH↗

Performance of a Kinetic Inductance Traveling-Wave Parametric Amplifier at 4 Kelvin: Toward an Alternative to Semiconductor Amplifiers

Most microwave readout architectures in quantum computing or sensing rely on a semiconductor amplifier at 4 K, typically a high-electron mobility transistor (HEMT). Despite its remarkable noise performance, a conventional HEMT dissipates several milliwatts of power, posing a practical challenge to scale up the number of qubits or sensors addressed in these architectures. As an alternative, we present an amplification chain consisting of a kinetic inductance traveling-wave parametric amplifier (KITWPA) placed at 4 K, followed by a HEMT placed at 70 K, and demonstrate a chain-added noise $T_Σ$ = 6.3 ± 0.5 K between 3.5 and 5.5 GHz. While, in principle, any parametric amplifier can be quantum limited even at 4 K, in practice we find the performance of the KITWPA to be limited by the temperature of its inputs and by an excess of noise $T_{ex}$ = 1.9 K. In this work, the dissipation of the rf pump of the KITWPA constitutes the main power load at 4 K and is about 1% that of a HEMT. These combined noise and power dissipation values pave the way for the use of the KITWPA as a replacement for semiconductor amplifiers.

97 MATHEMATICS AND COMPUTING↗

Study of CMOS strip sensor for future silicon tracker

Monolithic silicon sensors developed with High-Voltage CMOS (HV-CMOS) processes have become highly attractive for charged particle tracking. Compared with the standard CMOS sensors, HV-CMOS sensors can provide larger and deeper depletion regions that lead to larger signals and faster charge collection. They can provide high position resolution, low material budget, high radiation hardness and low cost that are desirable for high performance tracking in harsh collision environment. Various studies have been conducted to explore the technology feasibility for the large-area tracking systems at future collider experiments. CHESS (CMOS HV/HR Evaluation for Strip Sensor) sensor series have been developed as an alternative solution to the conventional silicon micro-strip detectors for the ATLAS inner tracker upgrade. The first prototype (named CHESS1) was to evaluate the diode geometry and the in-pixel analog electronics. Obtained test results were used to optimize the second prototype (named CHESS2). CHESS2 was implemented with a full digital readout architecture and realized as a full reticle sized monolithic sensor. Here, the basic characteristics of the CHESS2 prototype sensors and their performance in response to different input signals are presented.

46 INSTRUMENTATION RELATED TO NUCLEAR SCIENCE AND ↗

Improved noise performance from the next-generation buried-channel p-MOSFET SiSeROs

The Single electron Sensitive Read Out (SiSeRO) is a novel on-chip charge detector output stage for charge-coupled device (CCD) image sensors. Developed at MIT Lincoln Laboratory, this technology uses a p-MOSFET transistor with a depleted internal gate beneath the transistor channel. The transistor source-drain current is modulated by the transfer of charge into the internal gate. At Stanford, we have developed a readout module based on the drain current of the on-chip transistor to characterize the device. In our earlier work, we characterized a number of first prototype SiSeROs with the MOSFET transistor channels at the surface layer. An equivalent noise charge (ENC) of around 15 electrons root mean square (RMS) was obtained. In this work, we examine the first buried-channel SiSeRO. Here we have achieved substantially improved noise performance of around 4.5 electrons root mean square (RMS) and a full width half maximum (FWHM) energy resolution of 132 eV at 5.9 keV, for a readout speed of 625 kpixel/s. We also discuss how digital filtering techniques can be used to further improve the SiSeRO noise performance. Additional measurements and device simulations will be essential to further mature the SiSeRO technology. This new device class presents an exciting new technology for the next-generation astronomical X-ray telescopes requiring fast, low-noise, radiation-hard megapixel imagers with moderate spectroscopic resolution.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗

Integration Methods for High-Density Integrated Electric Drives (Final Technical Report)

The project goal was to research, design and fabricate high-power-density, high-performance SiC power electronic modules for motor drive inverters in electric vehicles (EVs) to enable the subsequent motor drive to achieve a power density of 100 kW/l. EVs use electric motors instead of internal combustion engines as the prime mover, and their core components are semiconductor-based power electronic modules. Efficient power electronic modules play a vital role in power conversion systems. The performance of power modules directly affects the energy efficiency and overall performance of electric vehicles. Therefore, it is particularly important to develop power modules with high power density and high electrical performance that will perform reliably under EV environmental conditions. To achieve these goals, advanced electronic packaging technologies are required. This report describes a 5-year effort to integrate key aspects surrounding the basic power devices into the module itself to increase power density. These include sensing and sensing readout circuits, gate driver circuits, and two-sided cooling solutions.

33 ADVANCED PROPULSION SYSTEMS↗

Skipper Charge-Coupled Device for Low-Energy-Threshold Particle Experiments above Ground

Here we present experimental results using a single-electron resolution skipper CCD running above ground level to demonstrate the potential of this technology for its use in reactor neutrino observations and other low-energy particle-interaction experiments. Operating conditions and event-selection criteria are provided to decouple most of the background rate at low energies. The majority of this background comes from interactions in the inactive silicon surrounding the active detector volume that ends up in the readout register of the sensor. Our final results are compared with other low-threshold technologies showing a good control of the background for low ionization energies down to five electron-hole pairs. This demonstrates that the skipper CCD proves to be among the best options to measure low-energy and weakly interacting particles at ground level.

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗

Latched detection of zeptojoule spin echoes with a kinetic inductance parametric oscillator

When strongly pumped at twice their resonant frequency, nonlinear resonators develop a high-amplitude intracavity field, a phenomenon known as parametric self-oscillations. The boundary over which this instability occurs can be extremely sharp and thereby presents an opportunity for realizing a detector. Here, we operate such a device based on a superconducting microwave resonator whose nonlinearity is engineered from kinetic inductance. The device indicates the absorption of low-power microwave wavepackets by transitioning to a self-oscillating state. Using calibrated pulses, we measure the detection efficiency to zeptojoule energy wavepackets. We then apply it to measurements of electron spin resonance, using an ensemble of 209 Bi donors in silicon that are inductively coupled to the resonator. We achieve a latched readout of the spin signal with an amplitude that is five hundred times greater than the underlying spin echoes.

42 ENGINEERING↗

Reduction of ion backflow using a quadruple GEM detector with various gas mixtures

In gaseous tracking detectors with a large gaseous volume, like Time Projection Chambers (TPC), multiple layers of Gas Electron Multipliers (GEM) can be used to block positive ions from flowing back into the active volume, which is detrimental to the tracking performance. TPCs with multilayer GEM readout are used in the recently upgraded ALICE experiment, and in the upcoming sPHENIX experiment. In both cases, suppression of ion backflow (IBF) is important for achieving the desired detector performance. Here, we report on studies of effective gain, IBF, and energy resolution in quadruple GEM detectors, and on strategies for minimizing IBF by optimizing the operating voltages of the individual GEM layers and the potential differences between different layers. These studies are performed as baseline measurements intended to aid in the optimization of the operating conditions of the GEMs of the sPHENIX TPC.

46 INSTRUMENTATION RELATED TO NUCLEAR SCIENCE AND ↗

A SiPM-based optical readout system for the EIC dual-radiator RICH

Silicon photomultipliers (SiPM) are candidates selected as the potential photodetector technology for the dual-radiator Ring-Imaging Cherenkov (dRICH) detector at the future Electron-Ion Collider (EIC). SiPM are cheap devices, highly efficient and insensitive to the high magnetic field at the expected location of the sensors in the experiment. Here, on the other hand, SiPM are not radiation tolerant. Despite the integrated radiation level is expected to be moderate it should be tested whether single photon-counting capabilities and the increase in dark count rate can be kept under control to maintain the optimal dRICH detector performance across the years. The current status of the research for the EIC dRICH application and the first results on studies performed on a sample of commercial and prototype SiPM sensors are presented.

46 INSTRUMENTATION RELATED TO NUCLEAR SCIENCE AND ↗

Response of a CMS HGCAL silicon-pad electromagnetic calorimeter prototype to 20–300 GeV positrons

The Compact Muon Solenoid collaboration is designing a new high-granularity endcap calorimeter, HGCAL, to be installed later this decade. As part of this development work, a prototype system was built, with an electromagnetic section consisting of 14 double-sided structures, providing 28 sampling layers. Each sampling layer has an hexagonal module, where a multipad large-area silicon sensor is glued between an electronics circuit board and a metal baseplate. The sensor pads of approximately 1.1 cm$^{2}$ are wire-bonded to the circuit board and are readout by custom integrated circuits. The prototype was extensively tested with beams at CERN's Super Proton Synchrotron in 2018. Based on the data collected with beams of positrons, with energies ranging from 20 to 300 GeV, measurements of the energy resolution and linearity, the position and angular resolutions, and the shower shapes are presented and compared to a detailed Geant4 simulation.

46 INSTRUMENTATION RELATED TO NUCLEAR SCIENCE AND ↗

Characterization of Amplification Properties of the Superconducting-Ferromagnetic Transistor

Here we report on the measurement results of the superconducting-ferromagnetic transistors (SFTs). The devices were made at Northwestern University and Hypres (SeeQC), Inc. (Nevirkovets et al., 2014; 2015). SFT is a multiterminal device with the SIS'FIFS (or SFIFS'IS) structure (where S, I, and F denote a superconductor, an insulator, and a ferromagnetic material, respectively) exploiting intense quasiparticle injection in order to modify the nonlinear I-V curve of a superconducting tunnel junction. SFT is capable of providing voltage, current, and power amplification while having good input/output isolation. We characterized the devices using different measurement techniques. We measured S parameters of the single- and double-acceptor devices at frequencies up to 5 MHz. Importantly, we confirmed that the isolation between the input and output of the device is quite good. However, the techniques typically employed to characterize semiconductor devices do not allow for revealing the full potential of our low-resistive SFT devices, especially those having two acceptors. In the latter case, we also tested the devices using the battery-powered current sources with floating grounds. Analyzing double-acceptor I-V curves recorded at different levels of injection currents, for an optimal load, we deduced a small-signal voltage gain of 33 and a power gain of 2.4. We suggest that further improvement of the SFT device parameters is possible in optimized devices, so that the device potentially may serve as a preamplifier for readout of output signals of cryogenic detectors and be useful as an element of other superconductor-based circuits. In addition, we used scanning transmission electron microscopy to identify some problems in the fabrication of the devices without any planarization.

75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS, SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND↗

Cryogenic Control Circuitry for Superconducting Qubits

Superconducting qubits have reached the point where system designers are worried about the heat that control wiring brings into the cryostat. To continue scaling cryogenic quantum systems, control solutions that work inside the cold space must be explored. One possibility is to use control electronics that is native to superconductivity, so called single-flux-quantum (SFQ) circuitry, to form an interface between qubits and whatever other electronics is needed to control eventual quantum systems. To begin exploring the utility of SFQ as control circuitry, we performed modeling and experiments on qubit readout using ballistic fluxons which are SFQ in the limit of ballistic fluxon transport. Our modeling results show that a flavor of qubit, the fluxonium, can be read out using ballistic fluxons. We designed test samples to prove some of the key concepts needed for such a readout but were ultimately unable to getting a working demonstration. The lack of testing success was due to challenges in fabrication and running short of time to perform testing rather than a fundamental problem with our analysis.

75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS, SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND↗