News
New Publication: A superconducting full-wave bridge rectifier
Matteo Castellani, Owen Medeiros, Alessandro Buzzi, Reed A. Foster, Marco Colangelo and Karl K. Berggren.
M. Castellani, O. Medeiros, A. Buzzi, R. A. Foster, M. Colangelo, and K. K. Berggren, “: A superconducting full-wave bridge rectifier,” Nat Electron, pp. 1–9, May 2025.
Abstract
Superconducting thin-film electronics can offer low power consumption, fast operating speeds and interfacing capabilities with cryogenic systems such as single-photon detector arrays and quantum computing devices. However, the lack of a reliable superconducting two-terminal asymmetric device, analogous to a semiconducting diode, limits the development of power-handling circuits, which are fundamental for scaling up such technology. Here we report a robust superconducting diode with tunable polarity using the asymmetric vortex surface barrier in niobium nitride micro-bridges. The diode offers a 43% peak rectification efficiency and half-wave rectification up to 120 MHz. We also integrate several of the diodes to create a bridge rectifier circuit on a single microchip that can perform continuous full-wave rectification at up to 3 MHz and alternating to direct current conversion of a 50 MHz signal in periodic bursts with an estimated peak power efficiency of 50%.
Dr Keathley’s Talk on Nanoscale Petahertz Electronics now available
Dr. Donnie Keathley’s talk on Nanoscale Patahertz Electronics is now available on Optica’s website here. The talk took place during the Frontiers in Optics 2024 conference.
Abstract
This talk overviews developments in nanoscale petahertz electronics, including our work in the area using metallic nanoantennas. It will focus on how we are leveraging insights and tools from the electronics community in device development.
QNN Winter 2025 Newsletter
We are excited to share with you our Winter 2025 group newsletter.
First of all, we are happy to share that Karl has been appointed as Faculty Head of EE at MIT! Please join us in congratulating him on his new role.
We are also excited to welcome Ben Mazur as a new PhD student in the group, and Gian Luca Dolso as a new postdoctoral fellow. Ben and Gian will be working on petahertz electronics and related experiments. In addition to Ben and Gian, there are also a number of new UROP students joining the team this term.
During the IAP period much of the group attended the annual MARC and QuARC conferences, and we were excited to learn that Francesca Incalza received the Best Poster award at QuARC.
As usual, we provide a more complete list of comings and goings, awards, publications, and presentations from the group below, in addition to a more recent group photo from our annual retreat at MIT Endicott house in October.
Best regards,
Karl and Donnie
Comings and Goings
The last few months we’ve welcomed the following new group members:
- Ben Mazur, RA from EECS
- Gian Luca Dolso, Postdoc
- Pavan Yeddanapudi, UROP
- Andi Qu, UROP
- Eric Zhan, UROP
- James Shi, UROP
The following members have now left and become alumni group members:
- Simon Opsahl, UROP
- Jocelyn Zhang, UROP
- Ellie Bultena, UROP
- Hanson Nguyen, MSRP
Awards
Francesca Incalaza received the “Best Poster Award” at QuARC!
Publications (9/31/24 – 02/01/25)
C. Heide, P. D. Keathley, and M. F. Kling, “Petahertz electronics,” Nat Rev Phys, vol. 6, no. 11, pp. 648–662, Nov. 2024, doi: 10.1038/s42254-024-00764-7
P.D. Keathley and F. Ritzkowsky, “Comment on ‘Synthesis and Direct Sampling of Single-Cycle Light Transients by Electron Tunneling in a Nanodevice,’” ACS Photonics, Jan. 2025, doi: 10.1021/acsphotonics.4c01800.
F. Ritzkowsky et al., “On-chip petahertz electronics for single-shot phase detection,” Nat Commun, vol. 15, no. 1, pp. 1–8, Nov. 2024, doi: 10.1038/s41467-024-53788-z.
Conferences & Proceedings (5/1/24 – 09/30/24)
K. Berggren, “Superconducting Microstrip-Based Electronics: Revisiting the Cryotron,” University of Naples, Oct. 30, 2024.
K. Berggren, “Superconducting Single-Photon Detectors (Mostly Nanowires),” presented at the Future Prospects of Intensity Interferometry, Waterloo, Canada, Oct. 31, 2024.
K. Berggren, “Superconducting Detectors and Electronics for Quantum Sensing and Applications in Space,” Goddard Lab, Washington D.C., Dec. 11, 2024.
Preprints (5/1/24 – 09/30/24)
A. Simon et al., “Ab initio modeling of single-photon detection in superconducting nanowires,” Jan. 23, 2025, arXiv: arXiv:2501.13791. doi: 10.48550/arXiv.2501.13791.
J. W. Simonaitis, J. A. Alongi, B. Slayton, W. P. Putnam, K. K. Berggren, and P. D. Keathley, “Electron Energy Loss Spectroscopy of 2D Materials in a Scanning Electron Microscope,” Oct. 11, 2024, arXiv: arXiv:2410.09291. doi: 10.48550/arXiv.2410.09291.
Karl Berggren named faculty head of electrical engineering in EECS
Karl K. Berggren, the Joseph F. and Nancy P. Keithley Professor of Electrical Engineering at MIT, has been named the new faculty head of electrical engineering in the Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science (EECS), effective Jan. 15. He succeeds Joel Voldman, who held the position since 2020.
For additional details, please see the MIT News article.
New Publication: On-chip petahertz electronics for single-shot phase detection
An international team of researchers including members of the Quantum-Nanostructures and Nanofabrication group at MIT, Deutsches-Elektronen-Synchrotron (DESY, Germany), Max-Planck for the Structure and Dynamics of Matter (Germany) and WiredSense published a manuscript titled “On-chip petahertz electronics for single-shot phase detection” in Nature Communications. They report on the large scale integration of petahertz electroncs, based on plasmonic nanoantenna arrays, in order to make a sensitive phase detector with broad applications in ultrafast optics and attosecond science. Their results were made possible by a combination of state-of-the-art e-beam lithography at MIT.Nano, cutting-edge laser technology provided by DESY and sensitive electronics developed by the Max-Planck startup WiredSense.
The lead authors in this effort where Matthew Yeung (MIT) and Felix Ritzkowsky (DESY & MIT) with support from Engjell Bebeti, Thomas Gebert, Toru Matsuyama, Matthias Budden, Roland Mainz, Huseyin Cankaya, Karl K. Berggren, Giulio Rossi, Franz Kaertner and Phillip D. Keathley.
Image credit to Dr. Florian Otte.
Abstract
Attosecond science has demonstrated that electrons can be controlled on the sub-cycle time scale of an optical waveform, paving the way towards optical frequency electronics. However, these experiments historically relied on high-energy laser pulses and detection not suitable for microelectronic integration. For practical optical frequency electronics, a system suitable for integration and capable of generating detectable signals with low pulse energies is needed. While current from plasmonic nanoantenna emitters can be driven at optical frequencies, low charge yields have been a significant limitation. In this work we demonstrate that large-scale electrically connected plasmonic nanoantenna networks, when driven in concert, enable charge yields sufficient for single-shot carrier-envelope phase detection at repetition rates exceeding tens of kilohertz. We not only show that limitations in single-shot CEP detection techniques can be overcome, but also demonstrate a flexible approach to optical frequency electronics in general, enabling future applications such as high sensitivity petahertz-bandwidth electric field sampling or logic-circuits.