Dresden 2026 – scientific programme
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TT: Fachverband Tiefe Temperaturen
TT 28: Superconducting Electronics: SQUIDs and other Josephson Circuits and Components
TT 28.8: Talk
Tuesday, March 10, 2026, 11:30–11:45, CHE/0089
Demonstration of natively phase-matched parametric amplification in a left-handed transmission line — •Christoph Kissling1, Victor Gaydamachenko1, Fabian Kaap1, Melanie Ziegler2, Hannes Toepfer2, and Lukas Grünhaupt1 — 1Physikalisch-Technische Bundesanstalt, Bundesallee 100, 38116 Braunschweig — 2Technische Universität Ilmenau, Ehrenbergstraße 29, 98693 Ilmenau
Wideband amplification of weak microwave signals is a key ingredient for cutting-edge experiments ranging from quantum information processing to the search for dark matter. A class of devices that achieves this is the traveling-wave parametric amplifier (TWPA). So far, all TWPA implementations are based on right-handed transmission lines, which exhibit a positive refractive index. Recently, an alternative approach has been proposed that utilizes left-handed transmission lines, which have a negative refractive index [1]. This property allows for self-phase-matched parametric amplification in the four-wave-mixing regime, eliminating the need for any engineering of nonlinearity or dispersion for phase matching. Here, we present our implementation of this concept, which employs a left-handed transmission line with nonlinear inductors made from a granular aluminum thin film. First results show a signal power gain exceeding 10 dB, dynamically tunable across multiple GHz. With only one lithography step, and an order-of-magnitude reduction in circuit length, the concept is promising to significantly reduce the complexity of designing and fabricating a TWPA.
[1] C. Kow et al., Phys. Rev. Applied 24, 024026 (2025)
Keywords: Parametric Amplifiers; Microwave Engineering; Qubit Readout; Granular Aluminum