This thesis presents experimental research on Josephson junction devices that behave quantum mechanically. The devices are formed by micrometer-sized superconducting islands, that are interconnected by a Josephson tunnel junction: a thin insulating layer between two superconductors. With current microfabrication technology it is possible to make very clean and well-defined junctions. The research that is presented in this thesis aimed at investigating whether Josephson junction circuits can have quantum coherent dynamics with a long decoherence time.
This thesis presents experimental research on Josephson junction devices that behave quantum mechanically. The devices are formed by micrometer-sized superconducting islands, that are interconnected by a Josephson tunnel junction: a thin insulating layer between two superconductors. With current microfabrication technology it is possible to make very clean and well-defined junctions. The research that is presented in this thesis aimed at investigating whether Josephson junction circuits can have quantum coherent dynamics with a long decoherence time.
This thesis describes a number of experiments with superconducting cir- cuits containing small Josephson junctions. The circuits are made out of aluminum islands which are interconnected with a very thin insulating alu- minum oxide layer. The connections form a Josephson junction. The current trough the junction is related to the superconducting phase difference across the junction and described by the well-known Josephson relation. The char- acteristic energy scale for this effect is the Josephson energy, which is a measure for the strength of the coupling of the islands. Due to the parallel plate geometry of the junction a capacitance is formed. This capacitance leads to a charging effect. The characteristic energy scale for this effect is given by the charging energy. With the shadow evaporation technique it is possible to make the Josephson junction area very small and the two characteristic energy scales of the same order of magnitude. Charge and phase are conju- gate variables. Therefore a circuit containing such small Josephson junctions exhibits quantum effects. The microfabrication technique used in this the- sis allows fabrication of solid circuits with controlled quantum mechanical behavior.
This PhD Thesis is focused on the realization of superconducting quantum devices based on overdamped Nb/Al-AlOx/Nb SNIS (Superconductor - Normal metal - Insulator - Superconductor) tunneling Josephson junctions, interesting for several application fields (voltage metrology, digital electronics, radiation sensors, nanoSQUID, etc.). The challenges faced by quantum electronics and metrology are directing the new generations of devices towards smaller dimensions and higher levels of integration. Taking into account this requirement, the fabrication of SNIS-based devices has been addressed on downscaling the junction dimensions form the micro to the nanoscale. In particular, the effective area of junctions has been reduced exploiting three different lithographic techniques: the optical lithography to realize SNISs for a micrometer resolution, the Electron Beam Lithography (EBL) at the subµm and, finally, the Focused Ion Beam (FIB) sculpting method to achieve nanometer sizes. Specifically, prototypes have been realized exploiting the thin film technology, to guarantee a good control of electrical parameters of junctions, a higher reproducibility of their current-voltage I-V characteristics, and an accurate dimension control. Reliable and simpler fabrication processes have been implemented and validated, and the device downscaling was pursued without affecting the fundamental properties of SNIS junctions such as the non hysteretic I-V response and the skill on generating quantised voltage steps under radiofrequency irradiation. This work has thereby led to the definition and validation of a new generation of devices and processes down to the nanometer scale, and these approaches represent precious experiences of nanofabrication valuable for new research activities and projects
The research work discussed in this thesis deals with the study of superconducting Josephson qubits. Superconducting qubits are solid-state artificial atoms which are based on lithographically defined Josephson tunnel junctions properties. When sufficiently cooled, these superconducting devices exhibit quantized states of charge, flux or junction phase depending on their design parameters. This allows to observe coherent evolutions of their states. The results presented can be divided into two parts. In a first part we investigate operations of superconducting qubits based on the quantum coherence in superconducting quantum interference devices (SQUID). We explain experimental data which has been observed in a SQUID subjected to fast, large-amplitude modifications of its effective potential shape. The motivations for this work come from the fact that in the past few years there have been attempts to interpret the supposed quantum behavior of physical systems, such as Josephson devices, within a classical framework. Moreover, we analyze the possibility of generating GHZ states, namely maximally entangled states, in a quantum system made out of three Josephson qubits. In particular, we investigate the possible limitations of the GHZ state generation due to coupling to bosonic baths. In the second part of the thesis we address a particular cause of decoherence of flux qubits which has been disregarded until now: thermal gradients, which can arise due to accidental non equilibrium quasiparticle distributions. The reason for these detrimental effects is that heat currents flowing through Josephson tunnel junctions in response to a temperature gradient are periodic functions of the phase difference between the electrodes. The phase dependence of the heat current comes from Andreev reflection, namely an interplay between the quasiparticles which carry heat and the superconducting condensate which is sensitive to the superconducting phase difference. Generally speaking, the flux qubit states are characterized by different values of the phase difference through their Josephson junctions. Consequently, the phase-dependent thermal current through a device subject a temperature gradient is related to the phase-dependent qubit states. We study how the thermal currents change according to the state of the qubits hence yielding a measurement of the qubit state. This in turn leads to an impact of temperature gradient on the dynamics of the system. We show that flux qubits in the Delft qubit design can have limitations of the decoherence time to the order of microseconds as a result of this newly discovered source of decoherence. In contrast, the fluxonium qubit is found to be well protected due to its superinductance.
The aim of this thesis was to realize superconducting quantum bits by using novel fabrication techniques and materials in order to enhance the coherence time of the former devices. For the system to be studied we chose the ux-biased phase qubit, which consists of a Josephson junction integrated in a superconducting loop. This qubit realization has some advantages, which make it an ideal test-bed for different fabrication technologies and materials. Relatively large Josephson junctions can be used in the phase qubit realization, which are easy to be fabricated by using standard lithographic technology with the flexibility of employing various fabrication techniques and materials. The coherence of current-generation of superconducting qubits seems to be limited by intrinsic sources of noise and energy loss, related to materials' defects (two-level systems, TLSs) on the surfaces and interfaces of the superconducting lms, and in the bulk of the dielectric films used for the microelectronic realization of the circuits. For this reason, we aimed our research activities on the realization of low loss dielectrics (a-Si:H), on its integration with Josephson junction technologies, on the protection of the superconducting films' surfaces from unwanted contamination, and on the optimization of the circuit design and fabrication processes.
The recent interest in developing highly controllable quantum bits (qubits) based on superconducting circuits makes it necessary to get a deeper understanding of the physics of small Josephson junctions. Such devices have to be wisely engineered and well isolated from the noisy environment to observe non-classical physics. In this thesis, a real-time noise analysis was implemented by an autocorrelation calculation to identify the type of environmental effects affecting a superconducting circuit. This was used during switching current measurements of small Josephson junctions to track the effects of unwanted signals and identify their frequency components. The temperature dependence of the switching current distribution was used to further characterise the small Josephson junctions. Furthermore the fabrication of smal1 Josephson junctions is further developed by analysing the reliability and reproducibility of them. A systematic approach is shown to solve typical fabrication problems for example identifying and reducing mechanical stress between resist layers. As Josephson junctions show quantum mechanical effects on a macroscopic scale they are used in a wide range of applications especially in superconducting circuits.
Properties of weak links between two superconductors, or Josephson junctions, make them interesting for fundamental physics research. Since their discovery over four decades ago, they have provided a unique way to study the behavior of the superconducting quantum phase. More recently, ultra small, or mesoscopic, Josephson junctions with substantial single Cooper pair charging energy have gained interest due to their behavior as macroscopic quantum objects. In addition to the theoretical interest, Josephson junctions can be used as active elements in circuit applications. Particularly, in this Thesis we study two different devices. We develop the required theoretical treatments, derive device properties, and compare the results with experimental data. The first application is a Josephson voltage standard based on externally damped Superconductor - Insulator - Superconductor junctions. It consists of an array of large Josephson junctions connected in series and irradiated with a 70 GHz microwave signal. Phase locking the Josephson dynamics into the signal leads to the quantization of the voltage. This is utilized in metrology. We introduce a new circuit solution based on frequency dependent damping of the junctions. Optimization and some designs for practical arrays are presented. The purpose is to find such a design that the array is fast, has low power consumption and is as stable as possible. Arrays able to generate DC voltages of order 1 volt with metrological accuracy are demonstrated experimentally and their applicability in AC voltage calibrations is analyzed. The second application is the Bloch Oscillating Transistor (BOT). The BOT is based on controlling the Cooper pair current in an ultra small Josephson junction by means of quasiparticles tunneling through a normal junction. As part of the thesis work, the principle of operation is first demonstrated computationally. The model is then refined to yield quantitative predictions of the characteristics. Finally, an analytic theory for the device is developed and the properties as an amplifier are derived.