Abstract

Picosecond electrical transients have been propagated on various sized superconducting parallel coplanar transmission lines made of YBa₂Cu₃O_7-y. The superconducting films were produced at Cornell University in-situ by a high pressure reactive evaporation process without the necessity of a post-deposition oven anneal cycle.¹ The films were prepared on a yttria stabilized cubic zirconia substrate. The smallest transmission lines made from these films were 15 μm in width spaced by 15 μm. For the first time, propagation of these electrical transients were studied through the use of a cryogenic electro-optic sampler² over a temperature range of 1.8 K to 90 K. The sampling was done in a reflection-mode type geometry³ which freed the substrate from being a suitable electro-optic material. The transient waveforms at various temperatures were recorded and analyzed for attenuation and dispersive characteristics. As the temperature approached the critical temperature of the superconducting film an increasing phase delay between input and output waveforms was noted.

© 1988 Optical Society of America