Coherent Quantum Phase Slip in Superconducting Nanowires

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Quantum fluctuations in one-dimensional superconductors are known to give rise to qualitative changes in behaviour of the superconductor, in a process called quantum phase slip. There are many proposals for superconducting nanowire devices making use of quantum phase slip, such as a quantum current standard, highly sensitive electric charge sensors, and phase slip flux qubits. At the moment this potential remains largely unrealised as the nature of quantum phase slip is still not fully understood. It is now known that successive phase slip events can be phase coherent, leading to a mechanism by which magnetic flux can coherently tunnel across a nanowire, and the superposition of different flux states has recently been demonstrated for the first time. In my project I aim to investigate the nature of coherent quantum phase slips, specifically by observing the interaction of nanowire devices with superconducting resonators, with a view to developing and characterising new coherent quantum phase slip flux qubits.