We consider a single localized spin-1/2 placed between singlet superconducting leads of a Josephson junction inserted in a superconducting ring, subject to a dc magnetic field B || z. Turning on the tunneling or a time-dependent flux in a superconducting ring, induces oscillations of the Josephson current, with an amplitude sensitive to the initial value of the z-component of the spin, Sz = ±1/2, which allows for a measurement of the initial spin state. At low temperatures when effects of quasiparticles are negligible, this procedure realizes a quantum-non-demolition (QND) measurement of Sz.
We consider a single localized spin-1/2 between the singlet superconducting leads of a Josephson junction (e.g., a superconducting STM). For the spin subject to a dc magnetic field B parallel z, we study the spin dynamics and the possibility to measure the spin state via transport through the junction embedded in a dissipative circuit. Turning on the tunneling or a voltage bias induces oscillations of the Josephson current, with an amplitude sensitive to the initial value of the z component of the spin, S(z)=+/-1/2. At low temperatures, when effects of quasiparticles are negligible, this procedure realizes a quantum nondemolition measurement of S(z).
This paper investigates the physical nature of a series of step structures or oscillations present in a Josephson current within one magnetic flux quantum when either a Josephson junction, a double junction squId, or a single junction superconducting ring is placed inside a high Q cavity under the condition in which the Josephson frequency is equal to the resonance frequency of the cavity. The frequency effect of the feedback field produces a series of induced current steps in the Josephson junction or the two-junction squId when ..omega.. = ..omega../sub r/. The oscillating electromagnetic field excited by the junction current acts on the junction itself. A series of new current step structures occur within one magnetic flux phi/sub 0/ quantum, since the amplitude of the feedback field is modulated by an applied magnetic field as the modulation of the amplitude of the feedback field is coupled to that of the radiation. For the superconducting ring containing a single junction, as n..omega.. = ..omega../sub r/, the feedback radiation of the stationary electromagnetic wave will give rise to a constrained oscillation of the supercurrent with a period smaller than that of the superconducting current oscillation phi/sub 0/.
We calculate both the dc and the ac Josephson current through a one-dimensional system of interacting electrons, connected to two superconductors by tunnel junctions. We treat the (repulsive) Coulomb interaction in the framework of the one-channel, spin-1/2 Luttinger model. The Josephson current is obtained for two geometries of experimental relevance: a quantum wire and a ring. At zero temperature, the critical current is found to decay algebraically with increasing distance d between the junctions. The decay is characterized by an exponent which depends on the strength of the interaction. At finite temperatures T, lower than the superconducting transition temperature
Tc, there is a crossover from algebraic to exponential decay of the critical current as a function of d, at a distance of the order of \ensuremath{\Elzxh}
vF/
kBT. Moreover, the dependence of critical current on temperature shows nonmonotonic behavior. If the Luttinger liquid is confined to a ring of circumference L, coupled capacitively to a gate voltage and threaded by a magnetic flux, the Josephson current shows remarkable parity effects under the variation of these parameters. For some values of the gate voltage and applied flux, the ring acts as a \ensuremath{\pi} junction. These features are robust against thermal fluctuations up to temperatures on the order of \ensuremath{\Elzxh}
vF/
kBL. For the wire geometry, we have also studied the ac-Josephson effect. The amplitude and the phase of the time-dependent Josephson current are affected by electron-electron interactions. Specifically, the amplitude shows pronounced oscillations as a function of the bias voltage due to the difference between the velocities of spin and charge excitations in the Luttinger liquid. Therefore, the ac-Josephson effect can be used as a tool for the observation of spin-charge separation. \textcopyright{} 1996 The American Physical Society.
Abstract. Superconducting circuits with Josephson tunnel junctions are interesting systems for research on quantummechanical behavior of macroscopic degrees of freedom. A particular realization is a small superconducting loop containing three Josephson junctions. Close to magnetic frustration 1=2, the physics of this system corresponds to a double well, whose minima correspond to persistent currents of opposite sign. We present DC measurements of the flux indicating a smooth transition close to the degeneracy point even at very low temperatures. Furthermore, microwavespectroscopy experiments allow for the excitation to the next excited state. The dependence of the energy of the resonance on the applied flux clearly indicates the nature of these states as tunneling-splitted superpositions of flux states. We theoretically analyze the system using a generalized master-equation formulation of the spin-boson model. We address the nature of the measuring process by a switching DC SQUID and the possible interpretation of the spectroscopy data in terms of quantum coherence. We discuss these aspects in the context of further applications as a quantum bit.
We study quantum phase-slip (QPS) processes in a superconducting ring containing
N Josephson junctions and threaded by an external static magnetic flux ${\ensuremath{\Phi}}_{B}$. In such a system, a QPS consists of a quantum tunneling event connecting two distinct classical states of the phases with different persistent currents [Matveev et al., Phys. Rev. Lett. 89, 096802 (2002)]. When the Josephson coupling energy
EJ of the junctions is larger than the charging energy
EC=e2/2C, where
C is the junction capacitance, the quantum amplitude for the QPS process is exponentially small in the ratio
EJ/EC. At given magnetic flux, each QPS can be described as the tunneling of the phase difference of a single junction of almost $2\ensuremath{\pi}$, accompanied by a small harmonic displacement of the phase difference of the other $N\ensuremath{-}1$ junctions. As a consequence, the total QPS amplitude ${\ensuremath{\nu}}_{\mathrm{ring}}$ is a global property of the ring. Here, we study the dependence of ${\ensuremath{\nu}}_{\mathrm{ring}}$ on the ring size
N, taking into account the effect of a finite capacitance
C0 to ground, which leads to the appearance of low-frequency dispersive modes. Josephson and charging effects compete and lead to a nonmonotonic dependence of the ring's critical current on
N. For $N\ensuremath{\rightarrow}\ensuremath{\infty}$, the system converges either towards a superconducting or an insulating state, depending on the ratio between the charging energy
E0=e2/2C0 and the Josephson coupling energy
EJ.
It is pointed out that if a superconducting ring containing a weak link is placed in a cavity, which is in resonant with the current flowing in the ring, i.e., when the frequency of the Josephson current or one of its n-th harmonies is equal to the cavity frequency, and if the cavity has sufficiently high Q-value, then the feedback of the stationary electric-magnetic wave will act on the ring itself and produce a small sinusoidal oscillation superposing on the primary sawtooth wave oscillating current. The period of the small oscillation will be φ0/n and its amplitude that of the sawtooth wave multiplied by 1/nπ.