High-Speed Pulsation of a Cryogenically Operable Bipolar Photodiode Module for the Josephson Arbitrary Waveform Synthesizer

This paper describes the development and testing of a prototype of a cryogenically operable bipolar photodiode module. Optical pulsation systems based on both a Mach-Zehnder modulator and a mode-locked laser have been used to measure the response of various samples, while immersed in liquid helium. Pulse widths down to 37 ps have been measured. By modifying the Mach-Zehnder-based system, a bipolar electrical pulse train has also been demonstrated from the module.