Developing Josephson Traveling Wave Parametric Amplifiers for Neutrino Mass Measurement

Determining the neutrino mass can change how we understand the history and composition of the universe. Project 8 is a next-generation neutrino mass experiment utilizing Cyclotron Radiation Emission Spectroscopy, which measures the electron cyclotron frequency from tritium beta decay to infer the neutrino mass. Inside a 1T magnetic field, the cyclotron frequency at the tritium endpoint is approximately 27GHz. In this frequency range, off-the-shelf amplifiers deliver a noise ratio above the single-photon contribution and the Project 8 needs. Hence, there is a need for low noise, high gain amplifiers, such as Josephson traveling wave parametric amplifiers (JTWPAs), operating in this high frequency regime. These chip-based amplifiers can attain 20 dB of gain over a few GHz of bandwidth with near-ideal quantum efficiency. This talk will cover best practices for simulating the frequency response and parasitics of JTWPA chip designs, as well as the mitigation of package modes for high frequency operation. We also propose steps toward integrating the JTWPA into the Project 8 measurement chain, and highlight that the JTWPA frequency bandwidth can be tailored to a wide range of applications, such as quantum information processing, dark matter searches, and fundamental particle physics.