Related papers: A self-calibrating superconducting pair-breaking d…
We demonstrate the operation of a differential single Cooper-pair box, a charge qubit consisting of two aluminum islands, isolated from ground, coupled by a pair of small-area Josephson junctions, and read out with a superconducting…
In this paper we describe the current status of the CALDER project, which is developing ultra-sensitive light detectors based on superconductors for cryogenic applications. When we apply an AC current to a superconductor, the Cooper pairs…
Single-electron transistors have been proposed to be used as a read-out device for Cooper pair charge qubits. Here we show that a coupled superconducting transistor at a threshold voltage is much more effective in measuring the state of a…
A setup based on the Franson optical interferometer is analyzed, which allows us to detect the coherence properties of Cooper pairs emerging via tunneling from a superconductor in contact with two one-dimensional channels. By tuning the…
We demonstrate a single-photon detector operating in the microwave domain, based on photo-assisted quasiparticle tunneling events that poison a superconducting island. The detection relies on continuously monitoring the island's charge…
The Cooper-pair transistor (CPT), a small superconducting island enclosed between two Josephson weak links, is the atomic building block of various superconducting quantum circuits. Utilizing gate-tunable semiconductor channels as weak…
We propose a protected qubit based on a modular array of superconducting islands connected by semiconductor Josephson interferometers. The individual interferometers realize effective $\cos2\phi$ elements that exchange `pairs of Cooper…
Superconducting circuits with embedded symmetries are good candidates to robustly protect quantum information from dominant error channels. The $\cos(2\varphi)$ qubit, consisting of an island shunted to ground through a tunneling element…
We have fabricated and measured superconducting single-electron transistors with Al leads and Nb islands. At bias voltages below the gap of Nb we observe clear signatures of resonant tunneling of Cooper pairs, and of Coulomb blockade of the…
We describe a Josephson device composed of two superconductors separated by two interacting quantum dots in parallel, as a probe for Cooper pair splitting. In addition to sequential tunneling of electrons through each dot, an additional…
We show that the phase information contained in coherent phonon oscillations generated by a laser pulse in a multi- orbital superconductor can be used as an experimental tool to probe super- conductivity and pairing symmetries. The phase…
We describe the design and principle of operation of a fast and sensitive electrometer operated at millikelvin temperatures, which aims at replacing conventional semiconducting charge amplifiers in experiments needing low back-action or…
Entanglement, being at the heart of the Einstein-Podolsky-Rosen (EPR) paradox, is a necessary ingredient in processing quantum information. Cooper pairs in superconductors - being composites of two fully entangled electrons - can be split…
Transportation of Cooper-pairs by a movable single Cooper-pair-box placed between two remote superconductors is shown to establish coherent coupling between them. This coupling is due to entanglement of the movable box with the leads and is…
The normal state of strongly coupled superconductors is characterized by the presence of "preformed" Cooper pairs well above the superconducting critical temperature. In this regime, the electrons are paired, but they lack the phase…
We study dephasing in semiconductor-superconductor structures caused by coupling to a voltage probe. We consider structures where the semiconductor consists of two scattering regions between which partial dephasing is possible. As a…
Small superconducting islands can exhibit charge quantization, where Coulomb interactions compete with Cooper pairing. Using scanning tunneling spectroscopy, we probe this interplay by measuring the charging energy ($E_C$) and the pairing…
We analyze theoretically the properties of the recently introduced and experimentally demonstrated converter of frequency to power. The system is composed of a hybrid single-electron box with normal island and superconducting lead, and the…
We increase the isolation of a superconducting double dot from its environment by galvanically isolating it from any electrodes. We probe it using high frequency reflectometry techniques, find 2e-periodic behaviour, and characterise the…
In recent years, the lack of a conclusive detection of WIMP dark matter at the 10 GeV/c$^{2}$ mass scale and above has encouraged development of low-threshold detector technology aimed at probing lighter dark matter candidates. Detectors…