Landau-Zener (LZ) tunneling can occur with a certain probability when crossing energy levels of a quantum two-level system are swept across the minimum energy separation. Here we present experimental evidence of quantum interference effects in solid-state LZ tunneling. We used a Cooper-pair box qubit where the LZ tunneling occurs at the charge degeneracy. By employing a weak nondemolition monitoring, we observe interference between consecutive LZ-tunneling events; we find that the average level occupancies depend on the dynamical phase. The system's unusually strong linear response is explained by interband relaxation. Our interferometer can be used as a high-resolution Mach-Zehnder-type detector for phase and charge.

The effective capacitance has been measured in the split Cooper-pair box (CPB) over its phase-gate bias plane. Our low-frequency reactive measurement scheme allows us to probe purely the capacitive susceptibility due to the CPB band structure. The data are quantitatively explained using parameters determined independently by spectroscopic means. In addition, we show in practice that the method offers an efficient way to do nondemolition readout of the CPB quantum state.

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We investigate phase-sensitive interference effects in a periodically sin(2π f rf t)-driven, artificial two-state system connected to a microwave resonator at f LC 800 MHz. We observe two kinds of multiphoton transitions in the twostate system, accompanied by: (1) Several quanta from the drive at f rf and (2) one quantum at f rf and several at f LC . The former are described using phase-sensitive Landau-Zener transitions, while the latter are discussed in terms of vibronic transitions in diatomic molecules. Interference effects in the vibronic transitions governed by Franck-Condon coefficients are also considered.

A scheme for measuring small intrinsic critical currents I(c) in nanoscale devices is described. Changes in Josephson inductance L(J) are converted to frequency variations that are recorded via microwave reflection measurements at 700-800 MHz. The critical current is determined from the frequency shift of the reflection magnitude at zero phase bias assuming a sinusoidal current-phase relation. The method is used to study a multiwalled carbon nanotube transistor with Pd/Nb contacts inside a resistive on-chip environment. We observe gate-tunable critical currents up to I(c) ∼ 8 nA corresponding to L(J) > 40 nH. The method presented is also applicable to devices shunted by closed superconducting loops.