Patent · US Expired

Superconducting analog-to-digital converter with grounded four-junction squid bidirectional counter

US5019818A · kind A · utility

16Cited by
29References
35Claims
0Family size

Assignee

Inventor

Key dates

Filing dateAug 24, 1989
Grant dateMay 28, 1991
Priority date
Expiry dateAug 24, 2009

Classification

  • Technology area (CPC H)Electricity
  • CPC primaryH03M1/48
  • WIPO fieldBasic communication processes
  • WIPO sectorElectrical engineering

Abstract

A high-speed, high-resolution superconducting counting A/D converter providing greatly increased conversion speeds with a low device count. The superconducting counting A/D converter includes a double-junction SQUID quantizer and a bidirectional binary counter having n stages of grounded four-junction SQUID flip-flops, where n is the number of bits of accuracy of the counter. The quantizer continuously tracks an analog signal, generating up-count and down-count voltage pulses of the same polarity on two different output lines for increasing and decreasing values of the analog current, respectively. The bidirectional binary counter algebraically counts the voltage pulses, increasing the binary count when up-count pulses are received and decreasing the binary count when downcount pulses are received.

Source: USPTO / EPO open patent data. Objective bibliographic and citation counts.