We report on the development of a new family of superconducting quantum interference device (SQUID) current sensors based on sub-micron cross-type Josephson tunnel junctions. Their low total junction capacitance permits high usable voltage swings of more than 100 μV and exceptional low noise of the SQUIDs at 4.2 K. Integrated rf-filters as well as high tolerable background fields during cool-do...

Reversibility is a concept widely studied in several research fields. Several contributions have been provided in physics and computer science. Reversible computation is characterized by means of invertible properties [1]. Reversibility is studied in computer science also in order to design less dissipative computers. The evolution of quantum systems is described by the time evolution operator ...

We present the first experimental realization of a widely frequency tunable, nondegenerate three-wave mixing device for quantum signals at gigahertz frequency. It is based on a new superconducting building block consisting of a ring of four Josephson junctions shunted by a cross of four linear inductances. The phase configuration of the ring remains unique over a wide range of magnetic fluxes t...

At present, the performance of superconducting qubits is limited by decoherence. Strong decoherence of phase qubits is associated with spurious microwave resonators residing within the Josephson junction tunnel barrier [1]. In this work, we investigate three different fabrication techniques for producing tunnel junctions that vary the properties of the superconductor-insulator interface. Throug...

A Josephson tunnel junction which is rf driven near a dynamical bifurcation point can amplify quantum signals. However, the bifurcation point will exist robustly only if the electrodynamic environment of the junction meets certain criteria. We develop a general formalism for dealing with the nonlinear dynamics of a Josephson junction embedded in an arbitrary microwave circuit. We find sufficien...

We measure current fluctuations of mesoscopic devices in the quantum regime, when the frequency is of the order of or higher than the applied voltage or temperature. Detection is designed to probe separately the absorption and emission contributions of current fluctuations, i.e. the positive and negative frequencies of the Fourier transformed nonsymmetrized noise correlator. It relies on measur...

We examine a Josephson junction involving two arbitrary equal-spin-pairing unitary triplet superconductors and a ferromagnetic tunneling barrier. Using perturbation theory, we show how the interaction of the barrier moment with the spin of the tunneling triplet Cooper pairs can reverse the sign of the Josephson charge current. This also results in a Josephson spin current, which contains a phas...

We study the Josephson effect between a conventional s-wave superconductor and a non-centrosymmetric superconductor with Rashba spin-orbit coupling. Rashba spin-orbit coupling affects the Josephson pair tunneling in a characteristic way. The Josephson coupling can be decomposed into two parts, a ‘spin-singlet-like’ and a ‘spin-triplet-like’ component. The latter component can lead to shift of t...

The utilization of a high-Tc superconductor for implementing a superconducting qubit is to be expected. Recent researches on the quantum property of Josephson junctions in high-Tc superconductors indicate that the low energy quasiparticle excitation is weak enough to observe the macroscopic quantum tunneling. Therefore, a detailed study on the quantum property of high-Tc Josephson junctions bec...

We suggest that experiments based on Josephson junctions, SQUIDS, and coupled Josephson qubits may be used to construct a resonant environment for dark matter axions. We propose experimental setups in which axionic interaction strengths in a Josephson junction environment can be tested, similar in nature to recent experiments that test for quantum entanglement of two coupled Josephson qubits. W...