Abstract - Physics at Lancaster University

Single Cooper pair tunneling in small Josephson junction circuits and superconducting nanowiresA. B. ZorinPhysikalisch-Technische Bundesanstalt, 38116 Braunschweig, GermanyDevelopment of the technology for fabrication of small structures had dramatic impact on the researchof single charge effects in the superconducting circuits. The class of such circuits includes the singleCooper pair transistors, serial arrays of small Josephson junctions, etc. and, recently, superconductingnanowires enabling under certain conditions the quantum slips of superconducting phase. In my talk Iwill review the research on the Bloch oscillations in the Josephson circuits and their phase locking byexternal ac drive and focus on the recent experiments with NbSi nanowires, demonstrating manipulationof individual Cooper pairs leading to quantum interference of voltages. Prospects of the single Cooperpair nanowires and possible application of these circuits in metrology will also be discussed.