Coherent Quantum Phase Slip in Superconducting Nanowires

众所周知，一维超导体中的量子涨落会导致超导体行为的质变，这一过程被称为量子相移。利用量子相移的超导纳米线器件有许多建议，如量子电流标准、高灵敏电荷传感器和相移磁通量子比特。目前，这一潜力在很大程度上仍然没有实现，因为量子相移的本质仍然没有被完全理解。现在已经知道，连续的相移事件可以是相位相干的，这导致了一种磁通可以相干地穿过纳米线的机制，最近首次证明了不同磁通状态的叠加。在我的项目中，我的目标是研究相干量子相移的性质，特别是通过观察纳米线器件与超导谐振器的相互作用，以期开发和表征新的相干量子相移磁通量子比特。

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.