Millimeter wave phase-locking in distributed Josephson arrays

Voltage tunable oscillators operating at millimeter and submillimeter wavelengths can be designed and fabricated using series arrays of Josephson junctions. The coherent radiation obtained from such oscillators results from the mutual phase-locking of the junction through the high-frequency Josephson current generated in the array. A 40-junction array of Josephson junctions distributed over many wavelengths has been designed, fabricated and tested for operation at 100 GHz. This paper presents the experimental results obtained for this prototype array. A review of the theory for optimizing array design is presented along the implications for power generation at submillimeter wavelengths in future arrays.