A K-band Kinetic Inductance Parametric Amplifier Near the Quantum Limit

• URL: http://arxiv.org/abs/2606.08406v1
• Date: Sun, 07 Jun 2026 01:59:14 GMT
• Title: A K-band Kinetic Inductance Parametric Amplifier Near the Quantum Limit
• Abstract summary: We present a junction-free, kinetic-inductance parametric amplifier based on thin-film niobium nitride (NbN) operating at 23 GHz in the microwave K-band.<n>This architecture can be extended to even higher frequencies, supporting applications such as high-fidelity readout of millimeter-wave superconducting qubits and axion searches over an expanded mass window.
• Score: 8.598641276971302
• License: http://arxiv.org/licenses/nonexclusive-distrib/1.0/
• Abstract: Advancing superconducting quantum devices to higher operating frequencies broadens their functionality and enables operation at elevated temperatures, but it also requires near-quantum-limited amplifiers beyond the few-gigahertz regime. Here we present a junction-free, kinetic-inductance parametric amplifier based on thin-film niobium nitride (NbN) operating at 23 GHz in the microwave K-band, achieving a gain up to 40 dB, a 100 MHz gain-bandwidth product, a 1 dB saturation input power of -85 dBm with 23 dB gain, and added noise no greater than 1.4 quanta for phase-preserving amplification. Leveraging the large superconducting gap of NbN, this architecture can be extended to even higher frequencies, supporting applications such as high-fidelity readout of millimeter-wave superconducting qubits and axion searches over an expanded mass window.

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