We have observed signatures of resonant tunneling in an Al three-junction qubit, inductively coupled to a Nb LC tank circuit. The resonant properties of the tank oscillator are sensitive to the effective susceptibility (or inductance) of the qubit, which changes drastically as its flux states pass through degeneracy. The tunneling amplitude is estimated from the data. We find good agreement with the theoretical predictions in the regime of their validity.PACS numbers: 85.25. Cp, 85.25.Dq, 84.37.+q, 03.67.Lx Several groups, using different devices, have by now established that superconductors can behave as macroscopic quantum objects.1-3 These are natural candidates for a qubit, the building block of a quantum computer. Qubits are effectively two-level systems with timedependent parameters. One of them is a superconducting loop with low inductance L, including three Josephson junctions (a 3JJ qubit).4 Its potential energy, U = For suitable parameters, U (φ 1 , φ 2 ) has two minima corresponding to qubit states Ψ l and Ψ r , carrying opposite supercurrents around the loop. These become degenerate for Φ x = 1 2 Φ 0 . The Coulomb energy E C (≡ e 2 /2C, with C the capacitance of junction 1) introduces quantum uncertainty in the φ j . Hence, near degeneracy the system can tunnel between the two potential minima.(Since E C ≪ E J ≡ E J1 , we deal with a flux qubit; E C ≫ E J yields a charge qubit. Coherent tunneling was demonstrated in both.)In the basis {Ψ l , Ψ r } and near Φ x = 1 2 Φ 0 , the qubit can be described by the Hamiltonian∆ is the tunneling amplitude. At bias ǫ = 0 the two lowest energy levels of the qubit anticross [ Fig. 1(a)], with a gap of 2∆. Increasing ǫ slowly enough, the qubit can adiabatically transform from Ψ l to Ψ r , staying in the ground state E − . Since dE − /dΦ x is the persistent loop current, the curvature d

We investigated both theoretically and experimentally dynamic features of a phase-biased charge qubit consisting of a single-Cooper-pair transistor closed by a superconducting loop. The effective inductance of the qubit was probed by a high-quality tank circuit. In the presence of a microwave power, with a frequency of the order of the qubit energy level separation, an alteration of the qubit inductance was observed. We demonstrate that this effect is caused by the redistribution of the qubit level population. The excitation of the qubit by one-, two-, and three-photon processes was detected. Quantitative agreement between theory and experimental data was found.

We study a flux qubit in a coplanar waveguide resonator by measuring transmission through the system. In our system with the flux qubit decoupled galvanically from the resonator, the intermediate coupling regime is achieved. In this regime, dispersive readout is possible with weak back action on the qubit. The detailed theoretical analysis and simulations give good agreement with the experimental data and allow us to make the qubit characterization.

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We implement the impedance measurement technique (IMT) for characterization of interferometer-type superconducting qubits. In the framework of this method, the interferometer loop is inductively coupled to a high-quality tank circuit. We show that the IMT is a powerful tool to study a response of externally controlled two-level system to different types of excitations. Conclusive information about qubits is obtained from the read-out of the tank properties.

We implemented experimentally an interferometer-type charge qubit consisting of a single-Cooper-pair transistor closed by a superconducting loop that is in flip-chip configuration inductively coupled to a radiofrequency tank circuit. The tank permits us to readout the qubit state, acting as an inductance measuring apparatus. By applying continuous microwave power to the quantum device, we observed inductance alterations caused by redistributions of the energy-level populations. From the measured data we extracted the energy gap between ground and upper levels as a function of the transistor quasicharge as well as the Josephson phase across both junctions.

We have made current-voltage (IV) measurements of artificially layered high-Tc thin-film bridges. Scanning SQUID microscopy of these films provides values for the Pearl lengths Λ that exceed the bridge width, and shows that the current distributions are uniform across the bridges. At high temperatures and high currents the voltages follow the power law V ∝ I n , with n = Φ 2 0 /8π 2 ΛkBT +1, and at high temperatures and low-currents the resistance is exponential in temperature, in good agreement with the predictions for thermally activated vortex motion. At low temperatures, the IV's are better fit by ln V linear in I −2 . This is expected if the low temperature dissipation is dominated by quantum tunneling of Pearl vortices.

We report a systematic study of the transport properties of high critical temperature superconductor ͑HTS͒ biepitaxial Josephson junctions in the submicron range. Junction performances point to more uniform and reproducible devices and to better control of d-wave intrinsic properties. Outcomes promote novel insights into the transport mechanisms across grain boundaries and encourage further developments in the control of dissipation in HTS devices. The application of nanotechnology to HTS could be an additional tool to properly engineer the junction properties to match specific circuit design also in view of the integration into hybrid quantum circuits.