A high-speed superconducting digital autocorrelator operating at 20.48 GHz

Journal article, 2007

Digital autocorrelators have a number of applications, such as in astronomical observation in the terahertz range, and for spectrum monitoring over wide radiofrequency bands. We have simulated, designed and tested a 16-lag superconducting digital autocorrelator circuits with parallel and also with serial data outputs. By using a novel clock line and a target critical current density of 4.5 kA cm^−2, we have successfully tested this digital circuit up to a clock rate of 20.48 GHz with negligible bit error rates on each lag. Moreover, this autocorrelator design can be expanded with a larger number of lags by tiling chips in a multi-chip module. We also include details of our first multi-chip design.