We designed, fabricated, and tested several prototypes of a Josephson Travelling Wave Parametric Amplifier (JTWPA) with aluminum SIS junctions integrated in series array of dc SQUIDs in the central line of coplanar waveguide. Three types of fabrication recipes were tested: two with shadow evaporation and one with magnetron sputtering and direct e-beam lithography. IV curves of SQUIDs were measured at bath temperature of 0.3 K. We developed a cryogenic setup for meas-urements of spectral characteristics of JTWPA comprising cold HEMT amplifier with circulator, cold attenuators and filters in signal and pump coaxial lines. Resonant characteristic of coplanar quarter-wave resonator with directional coupler intended for short JTWPA was measured.

Prototypes of the design of Josephson traveling-wave parametric amplifier based on aluminum superconductor–insulator–superconductor junctions in the form of direct-current SQUIDs included in central conductor of coplanar line are developed, fabricated, and investigated. Three manufacturing methods for the fabrication of such devices are tested: two of them using shadow evaporation and one using magnetron sputtering and direct electron-beam lithography. Current–voltage characteristics of the junctions are measured at 0.3 K. A cryogenic setup for the measurement of spectral characteristics of such amplifier containing cold semiconductor amplifier with circulator and cooled attenuators of the channels of input signal and pump is developed. The absorption spectrum of coplanar directional coupler with a quarter-wave resonator dedicated for measurements of short chains from one to 27 SQUIDs is measured.

The voltage response of a thin-film normal-metal hot-electron bolometer based on a SINIS (superconductor-insulator-normal metal-insulator-superconductor) structure to the radiation of a high-temperature Josephson junction in the terahertz frequency region was measured. Bolometers were integrated with planar log-periodic and double-dipole antennas, and Josephson junctions were integrated with log-periodic antennas. Measurements showed that the Josephson junction at a temperature of 260 mK was overheated by the transport current, so that its electron temperature exceeded 3 K at a bias voltage of 1 mV. The maximum response of a bolometer with a double-dipole antenna was observed at a frequency of 300 GHz, which agreed well with the calculated value. The Josephson radiation was observed at frequencies up to 1.7 THz. The voltage response of a bolometer reached 4×10 8 V/W, and the total noise-equivalent power reached 1.5×10 −17 W/Hz 1/2 .

Normal-metal hot-electron bolometer with capacitive coupling (CCNHEB) is a further development of the concept of a normal-metal hot-electron bolometer with Andreev mirrors (ANHEB). It was proposed to eliminate the frequency and energy restrictions inherent in ANHEB, in which Andreev mirrors act efficiently only with relatively long absorbers and at energies below the superconducting gap. An important advantage of the CCNHEB is its simple topology, in which the same tunnel junctions provide thermal decoupling, noise protection, temperature measurement, and it can be used for electron cooling. The temperature response of the bolometer was measured at temperatures down to 260 mK. The observed response dV/dT=1.7mV/K corresponds to the sensitivity S=0.4×109V/W. The measured noise at the amplifier output with this sample was found to be V na =4nV/Hz1/2, which corresponds to a noise-equivalent power of 10−17W/Hz1/2. To measure optical response, black-body radiation was used as a source of signal inside the cryostat. The source was a thin NiCr film sputtered on a thin sapphire substrate and suspended by nylon threads. Optical measurements proved to be in good agreement with the dc measurements.