Patent ID: 6980142

Claim:
A system for acquiring information on the size of a voltage signal, comprising: N superconducting transmission lines arranged adjacently and substantially in parallel with each other giving a configuration of N substantially identical superconducting transmission lines, the configuration having two characteristic directions, a y direction, along the direction of the lines, and an x direction, directed across the lines; a matrix of embedded Josephson Junctions (JJs) over the configuration of the N superconducting transmission lines, the matrix formed by 2 N−1 of the JJs on each one of the N superconducting transmission lines, wherein the JJs are so placed as to yield N digit binary numbers in the x direction, and; an electron beam, the electron beam impinging on the superconducting transmission lines, the electron beam being receptive to displacement along the direction of the superconducting transmission line in proportion to the size of the voltage signal, and wherein the electron beam generates a voltage step on the superconducting transmission line on condition of hitting any one of the one or more JJs; and a scanning voltage deflecting the electron beam in the x direction, wherein the electron beam periodically impinges on each one of the N superconducting transmission lines.