It has been nearly 110 years since the discovery of superconductors, and more than 30 years since the discovery of high temperature superconductors (HTS). Great progress has been made in the application of superconducting electronics in the last two decades. HTS microwave devices have shown much higher perfomance than the traditional ones and have found their ways to the industry applications in mobile communication, radar, and special communication applications. Owing to the ultrahigh sensitivity to magnetic fields and currents, superconducting quantum interference devices (SQUIDs) have been used as the irresplacible sensors in geological surveying, magnetic resonanc imaging, biomagnetic imaging, and other areas. The sensitivity of superconducting radiation detectors such as superconducting SIS mixer, superconducting hot electron bolometer, superconducting transition edge sensor, superconducting nanowire single photon detector, and superconducting microwave kinetic inductance detector are near the quantum limitation. They are now key technology in geophysics, astrophysics, quantum information science, biomedicine, and so on. Superconducting Josephson parametric amplifier has become a key element for superconducting quantum computing. Superconducting integrated circuit has been included in the international roadmap for devices and systems, and shows that having the potential to become one of the mainstreams for post-Moore information processing technology. In metrology, superconducting Josephson effect and Josephson junction array devices have been widely used in the redefinition of quantum voltage reference and basic units of the International system of Units. Superconducting electronics plays an important role in the current quantum information technology boom, which in turn promotes the development of superconducting electronics. This review will brief introduce the research and application of superconducting electronics in China in recent years.
Superconducting RF nanoelectronic devices exhibit a considerable potential for application in future electronics. Josephson effect based devices allow generation, detection, mixing, and parametric amplification of high-frequency signals up into the terahertz region and exhibit high sensitivity, low energy consumption, and small size. Traveling-wave devices can be realized with distributed Josephson junctions. Nonlinear lumped-element circuits can be realized that are small enough so that the circuit dynamics are governed by quantum mechanics. This allows to generate two-photon coherent states and entangled states and will open the door for quantum information processing. Nanotechnological fabrication techniques and the availability of novel materials give a strong impact on the development of novel Josephson-effect-based devices and systems. An overview over the physical principles and the possible applications of nanoelectronic RF Josephson devices is presented.