Design evaluation of microwave transmission properties of YBa2Cu3O7 -based kinetic inductance detectors

We designed, fabricated, and characterized microwave transmission properties with rewound strip structures for YBa2Cu3O7 (YBCO)-based kinetic inductance detectors (KIDs). The superconducting rewound strip serves as a microwave resonator and as a broadband terahertz-wave antenna. To predict the microwave resonance characteristics before fabrication, the line-width (w) and space (s) dependence of the spiral resonators were analyzed using an electromagnetic simulator; the resonance frequency increased, and the quality factor decreased with increasing w and s from 10 to 40 μm. YBCO-based KID arrays with different w (10 and 40 μm) were fabricated on 10 mm-square MgO substrates, cooled to 3 K using a 4He refrigerator, and evaluated using a vector network analyzer to verify the result of the simulation experimentally. The measured resonance frequency ratio of 1.11 times (5.04 → 5.59 GHz) agreed with the simulated ones of 1.10 times (4.84 → 5.33 GHz) between w = 10 and 40 μm. The other resonance characteristics, such as transmission coefficient and quality factor, have a similar w dependence with the simulation.

Thermophysical Properties of 1,1,1,3,3,3-hexafluoro-2-methoxypropane (HFE-356mmz) in the Vapor Phase Measured by Using an Acoustic-Microwave Resonance Technique

Thermophysical properties of HFE-356mmz in the vapor phase were measured by means of an acoustic-microwave resonance method. HFE-356mmz, which is 1,1,1,3,3,3-hexafluoro-2-methoxypropane in chemical name, is expected to be used as a working fluid with low global warming potential for the Organic Rankine cycle (ORC). The sound velocity and dielectric permittivity were simultaneously measured by using a cylindrical acoustic-microwave resonator. The sound velocity data were analyzed to obtain the ideal-gas heat capacity at constant pressure. The integral of the ideal-gas heat capacity as a function of temperature derives the ideal-gas enthalpy, which is a fundamental and important energy property to simulate the thermodynamic cycle. Similarly, the analysis of the dielectric permittivity data leads to information on the ideal-gas molar polarizability, dipole moment, and density. The acquired thermophysical properties of HFE-356mmz were compared to those of R-245fa and n-pentane, which are the existing working fluids for the ORC system, to prospect a feasibility of HFE-356mmz as their alternative.

Scalable microresonators for room-temperature detection of electron spin resonance from dilute, sub-nanoliter volume solids

We report a microresonator platform that allows room temperature detection of electron spins in volumes on the order of 100 pl, and demonstrate its utility to study low levels of dopants in perovskite oxides. We exploit the toroidal moment in a planar anapole, using a single unit of an anapole metamaterial architecture to produce a microwave resonance exhibiting a spatially confined magnetic field hotspot and simultaneously high quality-factor (Q-factor). To demonstrate the broad implementability of this design and its scalability to higher frequencies, we deploy the microresonators in a commercial electron paramagnetic resonance (EPR) spectrometer operating at 10 GHz and a NIST-built EPR spectrometer operating at 35 GHz. We report continuous-wave (CW) EPR spectra for various samples, including a dilute Mn2+-doped perovskite oxide, CaTiO3, and a transition metal complex, CuCl2.2H2O. The anapole microresonator presented here is expected to enable multifrequency EPR characterization of dopants and defects in perovskite oxide microcrystals and other volume-limited materials of technological importance.