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Superconductor Science and Technology

ISEC 2003—reflections on the conference

Alex I. Braginski

Published Oct 31, 2003• 1 citation
Publisher

Abstract

These reflections are based on the wrap-up talk given at the ISEC 2003 meeting. They are both subjective and selective, but without any intended value judgement. Superconducting qubits and π-shift devices are highlighted as examples of new directions. Some of the presented studies on materials and their characterization, Josephson junctions, analogue devices and systems, digital electronics and cryopackaging are briefly commented on. Overall, the progress in superconducting electronics has been good, but incremental and limited by insufficient funding. The challenge of other developing technologies, some much better funded, is emphasized.

DOI
10.1088/0953-2048/16/12/001

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These reflections are based on the wrap-up talk given at the ISEC 2003 meeting. They are both subjective and selective, but without any intended value judgement. Superconducting qubits and π-shift devices are highlighted as examples of new directions. Some of the presented studies on materials and their characterization, Josephson junctions, analogue devices and systems, digital electronics and cryopackaging are briefly commented on. Overall, the progress in superconducting electronics has been good, but incremental and limited by insufficient funding. The challenge of other developing technologies, some much better funded, is emphasized.
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For some time, work has been continuing within the U.S.A. on a "Technology Roadmap for the Superconducting Electronics Industry". A similar roadmap exercise is underway in Europe, and in Japan, recently announced research projects in superconductivity involved a detailed planning process. However, the U.S. Roadmap is not complete, and a consensus of industry opinion has not yet been reached on its recommendations. This manuscript should be regarded as a distillation of inputs from many sources, heavily weighted with the author's own prejudices. He suggests that a system level view of superconducting electronics technology should lead to revisions of today's research priorities. In particular, the importance of the cryocooler and cryopackage in each system has broad implications, even affecting the directions of materials and device research.
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One of the unique aspects of superconductivity is the phase coherence of the macroscopic wavefunction. It provides the basis for most concepts of superconducting electronic devices, such as SQUIDs and RSFQ circuitry. The phase coherence also underlies the principle of fluxoid quantization in superconducting ring structures. In recent years, an interest has arisen in introducing phase-shifting elements in superconducting circuits. Here, I will describe various techniques to implement such a phase shift, outline the potential interest for device applications and will attempt to provide an outlook for future developments in this field. Rather than providing an extensive review for a general readership, this paper aims to briefly introduce various aspects of phase-shift devices to experts in the field of Josephson electronics and to list the most important recent experimental developments in this field.