Mixing of counterpropagating signals in a traveling-wave Josephson device
Light waves do not interact in vacuum, but may mix through various parametric processes when traveling in a nonlinear medium. In particular, a high-amplitude wave can be leveraged to frequency convert a low-amplitude signal, as long as the overall energy and momentum of interacting photons are conserved. These conditions are typically met when all waves propagate in the medium with comparable phase velocity along a particular axis. In this work, we investigate an alternative scheme by which an input microwave signal propagating along a 1-dimensional Josephson metamaterial is converted to an output wave propagating in the opposite direction. The interaction is mediated by a pump wave propagating at low phase velocity. In this regime, the input signal is exponentially attenuated as it travels down the device. We exploit this process to implement a robust on-chip microwave isolator that can be reconfigured into a reciprocal and tunable coupler. The device mode of operation is selected in situ, along with its working frequency over a wide microwave range. We measure an isolation over 5 dB in the 5-8.5 GHz range and over 10 dB in the 7-8.5 GHz range on a typical bandwidth of 200 MHz. Substantial margin for improvement exists through design optimization and by reducing fabrication disorder, opening new avenues for microwave routing and processing in superconducting circuits.