Radiation power and linewidth of a semifluxon-based Josephson oscillator

Abstract

We demonstrate a high-frequency generator operating at ~200GHz based on flipping a semifluxon in a Josephson junction of moderate normalized length. The semifluxon spontaneously appears at the $π$ discontinuity of the Josephson phase artificially created by means of two tiny current injectors. The radiation is detected by an on-chip detector (tunnel junction). The estimated radiation power (at the detector) is ~8nW and should be compared with the dc power of ~100nW consumed by the generator. The measured radiation linewidth, as low as 1.1MHz, is typical for geometrical (Fiske) resonances although we tried to suppress such resonances by placing well-matched microwave transformers at its both ends. Making use of a phase-locking feedback loop we are able to reduce the radiation linewidth to less than 1Hz measured relative to the reference oscillator and defined just by the resolution of our measurement setup.