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Physical review. B, Condensed matter

Photoinduced macroscopic quantum tunneling

Sudip Chakravarty, Steven Allan Kivelson

Published Jul 1, 1985• 46 citations
Publisher

Abstract

Recently there has been interest in macroscopic systems which can be described in terms of the quantum dynamics of the same collective variables which describe their classical behavior. In particular, there has been considerable interest in the following questions: (1) Is it possible to observe unambiguous evidence of the quantum-mechanical nature of a macroscopic collective coordinate? (2) In what way is the quantum mechanics of a macroscopic variable different from that of a microscopic variable or, in other words, what is the effect of dissipation on the dynamics of a quantum-mechanical system? Spectroscopic evidence of the quantization of energy levels can be found by measuring the system's response to an applied ac perturbation, exploiting the quantum-mechanical relation between energy and frequency. The specific system studied is a superconducting quantum interference device (SQUID). It is shown that a time-varying magnetic field through the superconducting loop in a rf SQUID can cause transitions between different fluxoid states. The role of dissipation is discussed in detail, and it is shown that in the case that dissipation is characterized by linear damping in the classical limit, the photon-absorption process depends critically on the ratio of the resistance of the weak link to the fundamental unit of resistance h/${e}^{2}$. .AE

DOI
10.1103/physrevb.32.76

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Recently there has been interest in macroscopic systems which can be described in terms of the quantum dynamics of the same collective variables which describe their classical behavior. In particular, there has been considerable interest in the following questions: (1) Is it possible to observe unambiguous evidence of the quantum-mechanical nature of a macroscopic collective coordinate? (2) In what way is the quantum mechanics of a macroscopic variable different from that of a microscopic variable or, in other words, what is the effect of dissipation on the dynamics of a quantum-mechanical system? Spectroscopic evidence of the quantization of energy levels can be found by measuring the system's response to an applied ac perturbation, exploiting the quantum-mechanical relation between energy and frequency. The specific system studied is a superconducting quantum interference device (SQUID). It is shown that a time-varying magnetic field through the superconducting loop in a rf SQUID can cause transitions between different fluxoid states. The role of dissipation is discussed in detail, and it is shown that in the case that dissipation is characterized by linear damping in the classical limit, the photon-absorption process depends critically on the ratio of the resistance of the weak link to the fundamental unit of resistance h/e2{e}^{2}e2. .AE
It is shown that a time-varying magnetic field through the superconducting loop in a rf SQUID can cause transitions between the fluxoid states. Experimental observation of these transitions should constitute evidence for the quantum mechanical character of the macroscopic variable, the total flux through the loop. In the case that dissipation is characterized by linear damping in the quasiclassical limit, the photon absorption process depends critically on the ratio of the resistance of the weak link to the fundamental unit of resistance he2\frac{h}{{e}^{2}}e2h​.
The question of whether macroscopic variables obey the laws of quantum mechanics has been debated ever since the earliest days of quantum mechanics.Since early 1980s results from a series of experiments in Josephson junctions and superconducting interference devices(SQUIDs),including macroscopic quantum tunneling,energy level quantization,macroscopic resonant tunneling(MRT),and ac driven coherent dynamics of the phase and flux,strongly support the notion that under proper conditions motions of macroscopic variables are indeed governed by the laws of quantum mechanics.Among many macroscopic quantum phenomena,MRT,which combines two of the most distinctive quantum phenomena-tunneling and energy level-quantization together and does not involve excitation by high frequency fields,is perhaps the strongest evidence demonstrating quantum nature of macroscopic variables.In this article,we review recent development in theory and experiment of MRT.In particular,we show that how dissipation and flux noise affect the rate and line shape of MRT in the double-well of rf SQUID flux qubits and applications of MRT in the ongoing efforts of identifying and understanding mechanisms of decoherence in superconducting qubits for scalable quantum computing.
Having achieved this point we hope to have accomplished, at least partly, our main aim which was to convince the reader that once appropriate systems have been found (or built) they can present a very peculiar combination of microscopic parameters in such a way that quantum mechanics should be applied to general macroscopic variables to describe the collective effects therein. Moreover, the very nature of these macroscopic variables does not allow them to be treated in an isolated fashion. They must rather be considered coupled to uncontrollable microscopic degrees of freedom which is the ultimate origin of dissipative phenomena. The latter, at least in the great majority of cases, play a very deleterious role in the dynamics of the macroscopic variables and we hope to have introduced minimal phenomenological techniques in order to quantify this. We have concentrated our discussions on questions originating from a few examples of superconducting or magnetic systems where quantum mechanics and dissipative effects coexist. In particular, superconducting devices which present the possibility of displaying several different quantum effects (quantum interference, decay by quantum tunneling, or coherent tunneling) are of special importance, as we will see below. Prior to development of the modern cryogenic techniques and/or the ability to build nanometric devices, it was unthinkable to imagine the existence of subtle quantum mechanical effects such as the entanglement of macroscopically distinct quantum states.
Macroscopic quantum effects in Josephson systems have attracted great interest in the scientific community both for the physics involved and in view of applications. We present data on macroscopic quantum tunneling on Josephson junctions. Actually the most fascinating topic is the observation of macroscopic quantum coherence in rf-SQUID. This effect also has implications for quantum computing, because a quantum two-state system represents a single quantum bit, which is the elementary unit of a quantum computer. In this context, here we present a new method to measure quantum coherence between different fluxoid states of an rf-SQUID by using the procedure of "adiabatic inversion". This method offers the possibility of measuring tunneling and decoherence times in the system.
Abstract Superconducting quantum interference devices (SQUIDs) are made by a superconducting loop interrupted by one or more Josephson junctions. They are described in terms of a macroscopic variable, the magnetic flux, which shows quantum effects such as tunnelling through a potential barrier. Besides making up the source of a quantum state, SQUIDs also provide the instruments necessary for its probing: as a fact, SQUID based magnetometers have a sensitivity approaching the quantum limit. In this paper I will review the working principle of these devices and illustrate the system of SQUIDs realized in my group to test the quantum behavior at a macroscopic level.
The problem of macroscopic quantum coherence in superconducting systems is studied theoretically. A two-level model of a SQUID with phonon-field coupling is considered. The probability of a transition, induced by a periodic perturbation, occurring between the lowest states of the two-well potential, describing the phase dependence of the energy in the SQUID, is calculated for a particular region of this coupling. Use is made of the conformity between this model and the resonance-level model. We also consider the strong-viscosity limit. It is shown that in this case the two-level model cannot be used to describe quantum interferometers.