Broadband low-noise ADCs have wide application to digital RF receivers for advanced communications and signal detection, in space and on earth. These include satellite communications (SATCOM), signals intelligence (SIGINT), medical imaging (such as magnetic resonance imaging), and ultrafast digitizers for advanced scientific instrumentation. Superconducting digitizers packaged on compact, efficient cryocooler systems may be practical for many challenging applications.
Future NASA space telescopes for the microwave and far-infrared regimes require large arrays of micro-bolometers and other ultra-sensitive sensors. Frequency-domain multiplexing with digital readouts can maintain low-noise and low crosstalk between pixels, while achieving low power, compact size, and radiation hardness compatible with satellite implementation. Superconducting ADCs based on rapid-single-flux-quantum (RSFQ) technology are ideal for such applications. Such ADCs can also be applied to digitize other cryogenic sensor outputs of interest to NASA, such as imaging arrays for x-ray astronomy, and the intermediate-frequency output of terahertz mixers. Similar ADCs may also be used for sensitive wideband microwave receivers for deep-space communications.
More »