Time jitter measurement in a circular Josephson transmission line

Abstract

A Josephson transmission line closed to form a ring was used to measure the time jitter produced by a single shunted Josephson junction. A toggle flip-flop cell was connected to a sampling oscilloscope, and was used to detect the flux quantum arrival time. Time jitter was determined from the variation of this time. The jitter was measured as a function of the number of cycles the flux quantum made in the ring. The reduced jitter produced by a single junction of 0.2 ps/spl radic/n (n-number of junctions passed by the quantum) was measured using Hypres 1 kA/cm/sup 2/ chip fabrication technology. It was found that jitter varies the distance between the quanta with the same rate of 0.2 ps/spl radic/n.