Design of a millimetre three-wave mixing kinetic inductance travelling wave parametric amplifier

Conference item

Kinetic inductance travelling-wave parametric amplifiers (KITWPAs) have emerged as promising quantum-limited amplifiers for large-format detector arrays and quantum sensing applications. Extending this technology to millimetre-wave frequencies could enable ultra-low-noise pre-amplification for astronomical heterodyne receivers, potentially improving receiver sensitivity and mapping speed. In this work, we present the preliminary design of a W-band three-wave mixing (3WM) KITWPA based on a high-kinetic-inductance niobium-titaniumnitride (NbTiN) inverted microstrip transmission line.

The proposed architecture incorporates waveguide-coupled radial-probe transitions and a DC-bias network adapted from established superconducting mixer technologies to enable 3WM operation at millimetre-wave frequencies. Electromagnetic simulations are combined with coupled-mode analysis to evaluate the amplifier performance. Simulations predict an intrinsic gain exceeding 20 dB over a broad frequency range from 30 to 110 GHz. When integrated within a WR-10 waveguide environment, the effective operating bandwidth is predicted to extend from 75 to 110 GHz with more than 15 dB gain. The proposed design demonstrates the feasibility of implementing DC-biased 3WM KITWPAs in the W-band and represents a potential route towards low-noise pre-amplifiers for future mm-wave and submm-wave heterodyne receiver systems.

Authors: Tan, BK; Navarro Montilla, J; Day, PK

• Publication status: Accepted
• Peer review status: Peer reviewed
• Acceptance date: 2026-01-23
• Event title: 35th International Symposium on Space Terahertz Technology (ISSTT) 2026
• Event location: Santiago, Chile
• Event website: https://isstt2026.org/
• Event start date: 2026-03-22
• Event end date: 2026-03-27
• Language: English