In this paper, we proposed the doubly tapered electromagnetic periodic structure (DT-EPS) bandstop filters in coplanar waveguide (CPW) and cylindrical coplanar waveguide (CCPW). The DT-EPS bandstop filter not only can effectively improve the stopband rejection but also increase its bandwidth. In addition, this technique can significantly reduce the passband ripples compared with conventional case.

This paper describes the first experimental results for a waveguide-type all-NbN superconductor-insulator-superconductor (SIS) heterodyne mixer on an MgO substrate designed to operate over the gap frequency of Nb. The mixer consists of an NbN/MgO/NbN junction, which has a length of one wavelength at 880 GHz as a tuning circuit, an NbN/MgO/NbN microstrip as a λ/4 impedance transformer, and an RF choke filter. The mixer chip was designed using a high-frequency-structure simulator. Its return-loss and embedding-impedance characteristics were examined using a 180-times-scaled mixer model. By optimizing the cutting and polishing processes for the MgO substrate, we were able to fabricate the mixer chip with an accuracy of less than 5 µm. We succeeded in mounting the chip on a mixer block and in estimating the receiver noise temperature. The uncorrected minimum double-sideband receiver noise temperature was 740 K at 824 GHz. A comparison of the receiver noise temperature in a quasi-optical SIS mixer fabricated on the same wafer as the waveguide mixer showed that input noise was the major contributor to receiver noise in the waveguide mixer.

We report on the enhancement of system detection efficiency in a superconducting nanowire single-photon detector (SNSPD) by applying the optical cavity structure. The nanowire was made using 4-nm-thick NbN thin films and covered with an SiO cavity and Au mirror designed for 1300-1600 nm wavelengths. The device is mounted into fiber-coupled packages, and installed in a practical multichannel system based on GM cryocoolers. System detection efficiency depends on the absorptance of cavity structure, and reached 28% and 40% at 1550 nm and 1310 nm wavelengths, respectively. These values were considerably higher than an SNSPD without optical cavity.

We have fabricated a novel type of intrinsic Josephson junctions with superconducting Bi2Sr2CaCu2O8+y (Bi-2212)/YBa2Cu3O7-x(YBCO) bilayer thin films deposited on MgO(100) substrates. We used the 4th harmonics of a Nd:YAG pulsed laser ablation. Furthermore, we studied the transport properties of a 25 µm 25 µm Bi-2212/YBCO mesa-type junction. The zero resistance temperature was around 50 K. The current-voltage characteristics showed flux-flow-like behavior and a supercurrent of about 2 mA at 4.2 K. Shapiro steps were observed when microwave was irradiated to the mesa junction. These Shapiro steps are attributed to the Josephson junction formed at the interface between the Bi-2212 and YBCO layers in the mesa structure and not to the intrinsic Josephson junctions in the Bi-2212 layer or the micro-grains within the films.

We report on progress in the development of high-current-density all-NbN tunnel junctions for application as submillimeter wave SIS mixers. A very high current density up to 54 kA/cm2, roughly an order of magnitude larger than any reported results for all-NbN tunnel junctions, was achieved in the junctions with a thin aluminum nitride (AIN) tunnel barrier. Even though the junctions have a very high current density, they showed high-quality junction characteristics with a large gap voltage, sharp quasipartical current rise, and small subgap leakage current. The junctions also exhibited good Josephson tunneling behavior, excellent terahertz response, and sensitive heterodyne mixing properties. NbN/AIN/NbN tunnel junctions were integrated with a NbN thin-film antenna to investigate the terahertz responses and the heterodyne mixing properties in a quasioptical mixer testing system. Photon-assisted tunneling steps were clearly observed on the I-V curve with irradiation up to 1 THz, and low-noise heterodyne mixing was demonstrated in the 300-GHz band.

The reconnaissance mode with the cooperation of two unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) equipped with airborne visual tracking platforms is a common practice for localizing a target. Apart from the random noises from sensors, the localization performance is much dependent on their cooperative trajectories. In our previous work, we have proposed a cooperative trajectory generating method that proves better than EKF based method. In this letter, an improved online trajectory generating method is proposed to enhance the previous one. First, the least square estimation method has been replaced with a geometric-optimization based estimation method, which can obtain a better estimation performance than the least square method proposed in our previous work; second, in the trajectory optimization phase, the position error caused by estimation method is also considered, which can further improve the optimization performance of the next way points of the two UAVs. The improved method can well be applied to the two-UAV trajectory planning for corporative target localization, and the simulation results confirm that the improved method achieves an obviously better localization performance than our previous method and the EKF-based method.

In this paper, we propose a salient region detection method with multi-feature fusion and edge constraint. First, an image feature extraction and fusion network based on dense connection structure and multi-channel convolution channel is designed. Then, a multi-scale atrous convolution block is applied to enlarge reception field. Finally, to increase accuracy, a combined loss function including classified loss and edge loss is built for multi-task training. Experimental results verify the effectiveness of the proposed method.

The high-Tc superconducting active antenna proposed here for millimeter and submillimeter radiowave communications, uses a YBCO slot antenna with a series Josephson junction array to increase the normal-state resistance of the junctions, in order to ensure impedance matching between the antenna and the junctions. The antenna is a coplanar waveguide fed slot antenna, which can be easily and monolithically combined with the Josephson junctions. The design frequency of the antenna is 10 GHz and the obtained bandwidth of a VSWR less than 2 was 4.1%. Normal-state resistance values of the junction array could be confirmed by measuring I-V characteristics and 100-MHz impedance measurements, and both agree very well. Microwave mixing experiments were carried out using the junction array with the antenna, and the experiments showed that the conversion gain of the junction was proportional to the number of the junctions. The conversion gain of an eight-junction mixer with the antenna was found to be -6 dB.

We report on the fabrication and operation of all-NbN single flux quantum (SFQ) circuits with resistively shunted NbN/AlN/NbN tunnel junctions fabricated on silicon substrates. The critical current varied by about 5% in 400 NbN/AlN/NbN junction arrays, where the junction area was 88 µm2. Critical current densities of the NbN/AlN/NbN tunnel junctions showed exponential dependence on the deposition time of the AlN barrier. By using the 12-nm-thick Cu film as shunted resistors, non-hysteretic current-voltage characteristics were achieved. From dc-SQUID measurements, the sheet inductance of our NbN stripline was estimated to be around 1.2 pH at 4.2 K. We designed and fabricated circuits consisting of dc/SFQ converters, Josephson transmission lines, and T flip-flop-based SFQ/dc converters. The circuits demonstrated correct operation with a bias margin of more than 15% at 4.2 K.

A quasi-optical Superconductor-Insulator-Superconductor (SIS) mixer has been designed and tested in the 270-GHz band. The mixer used a substrate-lens-coupled log-periodic antenna and a tuning circuit for RF matching. The antenna is planar and self-complementary, and has a frequency-independent impedance of around 114 Ω over several octaves. The tuning circuit consists of two Nb/AIOx/Nb tunnel junctions separated by inductance for tuning out the junction capacitances and a λ/4 impedance transformer for matching the resistance of the two-junction circuit to the antenna impedance. The IF output from the mixer is brought out in a balanced method at each edge of the antenna, and is coupled to a low noise amplifier through a balun transformer using a 180-degree hybrid coupler for broadband IF matching. Double sideband receiver noise temperatures, determined from experimental Y-factor measurements, are about 150 K across the majority of the desired operating frequency band. The minimum receiver noise temperature of 120 K was measured at 263 GHz, which is as low as that of waveguide receivers. At this frequency, measurement of the noise contribution to the receiver results in input losses of 90 K, mixer noise of 17 K, and multiplied IF noise of 13 K. We found that the major sources of noise in our quasi-optical receiver were the optical losses.

Resonant properties of resistance shunted tunnel junctions have been investigated using the RLCSJ model. We found that an increase in dc current resulted from an increase in impedance of the shunted tunnel junctions. The static and dynamic properties of the shunted tunnel junctions were described in detail by numerical simulations and experiments. The simulated and measured results showed good agreement in I-V characteristics. A Josephson array oscillator has been proposed using the resonant properties for increasing oscillator output impedance. We designed and fabricated the oscillator with 20 shunted tunnel junctions. The output power of the oscillator delivered to the load resistor was estimated to be about 0.5µW at 312 GHz.

The complex conductivities of high Tc superconducting YBa2Cu3Ox thin films have been studied using the coplanar waveguide resonator technique. In order to evaluate the magnetic penetration depth precisely, we measured the temperature dependence of the resonant frequency and compared it with the numerical results self-consistently. The observed temperature dependence of the complex conductivities is shown to be able to distinguish the effects of the weaklink from the intrinsic property of the grain of an epitaxial thin film and demonstrate the weakly coupled grain model of YBa2Cu3Ox thin films.

We report on progress in the development of high current density NbN/AlN/NbN tunnel junctions for application as submillimeter wave SIS mixers. A ultra-high current density up to 120 kA/cm2, roughly two orders of magnitude larger than any reported results for all-NbN tunnel junctions, was achieved in the junctions. The magnetic field dependence and temperature dependence of critical supercurrents were measured to investigate the Josephson tunneling behaviour of critical supercurrents in the high-Jc junctions. We have developed a low-noise quasi-optical SIS mixer with the high-current density NbN/AlN/NbN junctions and two-junction tuning circuits which employ Al/SiO/NbN microstriplines. The tuning characteristics of the mixer were investigated by measuring the response in the direct detection mode by using the Fourier Transform Spectrometer (FTS) and measuring the response in the heterodyne detection mode with the standard Y-factor method at frequencies from 670 to 1082 GHz. An uncorrected double sideband receiver noise temperature of 457 K (12hν/kB) was obtained at 783 GHz.

Feature selection is important for learning algorithms, and it is still an open problem. Antlion optimizer is an excellent nature inspired method, but it doesn't work well for feature selection. This paper proposes a hybrid approach called Ant-Antlion Optimizer which combines advantages of antlion's smart behavior of antlion optimizer and ant's powerful searching movement of ant colony optimization. A mutation operator is also adopted to strengthen exploration ability. Comprehensive experiments by binary classification problems show that the proposed algorithm is superiority to other state-of-art methods on four performance indicators.

To tackle the increasing testing power during built-in self-test (BIST) operations, this paper proposes a new test pattern generator (TPG). With the proposed reconfigurable LFSR, the reconfigurable Johnson counter, the decompressor and the XOR gate network, the introduced TPG can produce the single input change (SIC) sequences with few repeated vectors. The proposed SIC sequences minimize switching activities of the circuit under test (CUT). Simulation results on ISCAS benchmarks demonstrate that the proposed method can effectively save test power, and does not impose high impact on test length and hardware for the scan based design.

In the weakly coupled grain model which has been proposed to explain the residual surface resistance in high-Tc superconducting polycrystalline thin films, the superconducting polycrystalline thin films is described as a network of superconducting grains coupled via Josephson junctions. In order to evaluate this model we have fabricated the coplanar waveguide resonator using c-axis oriented YBa2Cu3Ox Thin Films and measured the residual surface resistance. The experimental results are in good agreement with theoretical prediction.

Resonant properties of resistively shunted tunnel junctions dominate the high-frequency performance of Josephson array oscillators. To improve the operating frequency, we have developed resistively shunted Nb/AlOx/Nb tunnel junctions with a small parasitic inductance. The inductance was minimized by reducing the inductive length between the tunnel junction and the contact hole to be about 1µm. By fitting the measured I-V characteristics of the shunted tunnel junction to the simulated characteristics, we estimated the inductance to be about 105 fH. The analysis of resonant properties showed that the shunted tunnel junctions with the small parasitic inductance have a high-frequency performance up to the Nb gap frequency. Josephson array oscillators using 11 such junctions were designed and fabricated to operate at 650 GHz and 1 THz. Shapiro steps induced by Josephson oscillation were clearly observed up to 1 THz. By fitting the step heights to the simulated results, we estimated the output power of the Josephson oscillator delivered to the load resistor to be about 10 µW at 625 GHz and 50 nW at 1 THz.