Evaluation of Embedded Radar Electronics for Cryogenic Quantum Instrumentation
Supervisor: Dr Julien Le Kernec
School: Engineering
Industry Partner: The French Alternative Energies and Atomic Energy Commission (CEA)
Description:
Quantum research relies on cryogenic environments, where qubits and other nanoelectronic devices must operate at very low temperatures to exhibit quantum behaviour. Although major progress has been made in quantum devices and architectures, much of the associated instrumentation, including control, acquisition and processing electronics, still remains outside the cryostat at room temperature. This separation is mainly due to the power dissipation, size and thermal constraints of conventional electronics, which make them difficult to integrate close to quantum devices.
Keeping instrumentation outside the cryogenic environment introduces several limitations. Long cables between room-temperature electronics and the low-temperature stage can create ground-loop issues, transport unwanted heat into the cryostat, and reduce signal quality and bandwidth. These constraints become increasingly problematic as quantum experiments grow in complexity and require faster, more precise control and readout. There is therefore a growing need for compact, low-power instrumentation that can operate inside the cryostat, as close as possible to the quantum components.
Université Paris-Saclay, through the CEA-CNRS SPEC laboratory, has developed instrumentation and experimental facilities for testing printed circuit boards and electronic systems under cryogenic conditions. This provides a strong framework for exploring embedded systems adapted to quantum research. In parallel, the University of Glasgow develops FPGA-based embedded systems for radar applications. Radar and quantum control/readout systems share several common challenges, including fast signal generation, acquisition, timing control and real-time processing. This project will investigate whether FPGA-based radar-oriented hardware could be adapted for operation at cryogenic temperatures.
The project will first focus on an FPGA development board as a representative embedded platform. The student will characterise the main sources of heat generation at room temperature, including FPGA processing activity, clocking, input/output operation, power supply stages, and voltage/current regulation. Different FPGA workloads will be implemented to assess how logic utilisation, switching activity and processing tasks affect power dissipation.
The board will be evaluated under cryogenic conditions using the experimental facilities at Université Paris-Saclay. Particular attention will be given to the behaviour of the power supply and regulation circuitry, since these components may limit reliable low-temperature operation or introduce unwanted thermal loads. Measurements of voltage stability, current consumption, thermal behaviour and functional performance will be compared between room-temperature and cryogenic operation.
This staged approach will provide practical insight into the feasibility of using FPGA-based embedded electronics inside cryostats. The results will guide the later adaptation of University of Glasgow radar boards for quantum instrumentation, identifying key design changes required for reliable, low-power cryogenic deployment.