Sergio PAGANO | JOSEPHSON EFFECT, SUPERCONDUCTING ELECTRONICS AND QUBIT FOR QUANTUM TECHNOLOGIES

cod. 8803000005

JOSEPHSON EFFECT, SUPERCONDUCTING ELECTRONICS AND QUBIT FOR QUANTUM TECHNOLOGIES

	8803000005
	DEPARTMENT OF PHYSICS "E. R. CAIANIELLO"
	P.H.D. COURSE
	MATHEMATICS, PHYSICS AND APPLICATIONS
	2021/2022

CURRICULUM PHYSICS

	YEAR OF COURSE 1
	YEAR OF DIDACTIC SYSTEM 2021
	FULL ACADEMIC YEAR

TEACHING UNITS

	SSD	CFU	HOURS	ACTIVITY	TYPE OF ACTIVITY
	FIS/03	4	20	LESSONS

PROFESSORS

	SERGIO PAGANO T Curriculum
	CLAUDIO GUARCELLO Curriculum
	ROBERTA CITRO Curriculum

	Objectives
	LEARNING OBJECTIVES: THE COURSE HAS THE OBJECTIVE OF PROVIDING THE STUDENT WITH A SOLID FORMATION IN THE FIELDS OF JOSEPHSON-BASED SUPERCONDUCTING ELECTRONICS KNOWLEDGE AND UNDERSTANDING: THE COURSE PROVIDES BASIC KNOWLEDGE ON THE JOSEPHSON EFFECT, ON THE MAIN APPLICATIONS OF JOSEPHSON JUNCTIONS, AND ON THE WORKING MECHANISMS OF BOTH SUPERCONDUCTING DETECTORS AND QUBITS. THE KNOWLEDGE PROVIDED ALLOWS THE STUDENT TO UNDERSTAND THE STATE-OF-THE-ART OF THE RESEARCH IN THIS FIELD. APPLYING KNOWLEDGE AND UNDERSTANDING: THE COURSE AIMS TO ENSURE THAT THE STUDENT IS ABLE TO APPLY THE KNOWLEDGE ACQUIRED IN THE EVALUATION OF THE POTENTIAL OF THE SUPERCONDUCTING TECHNOLOGIES TREATED, WHILE ACQUIRING, AT THE SAME TIME, A DEEPER UNDERSTANDING OF THE UNDERLYING PHYSICAL MECHANISMS.

LEARNING OBJECTIVES:
THE COURSE HAS THE OBJECTIVE OF PROVIDING THE STUDENT WITH A SOLID FORMATION IN THE FIELDS OF JOSEPHSON-BASED SUPERCONDUCTING ELECTRONICS

KNOWLEDGE AND UNDERSTANDING:
THE COURSE PROVIDES BASIC KNOWLEDGE ON THE JOSEPHSON EFFECT, ON THE MAIN APPLICATIONS OF JOSEPHSON JUNCTIONS, AND ON THE WORKING MECHANISMS OF BOTH SUPERCONDUCTING DETECTORS AND QUBITS. THE KNOWLEDGE PROVIDED ALLOWS THE STUDENT TO UNDERSTAND THE STATE-OF-THE-ART OF THE RESEARCH IN THIS FIELD.

APPLYING KNOWLEDGE AND UNDERSTANDING:
THE COURSE AIMS TO ENSURE THAT THE STUDENT IS ABLE TO APPLY THE KNOWLEDGE ACQUIRED IN THE EVALUATION OF THE POTENTIAL OF THE SUPERCONDUCTING TECHNOLOGIES TREATED, WHILE ACQUIRING, AT THE SAME TIME, A DEEPER UNDERSTANDING OF THE UNDERLYING PHYSICAL MECHANISMS.

	Prerequisites
	A COMPETENCE IN THE STRUCTURE OF MATTER AND THE BASICS OF SUPERCONDUCTIVITY IS REQUIRED.

	Contents
	PART 1: JOSEPHSON EFFECT AND NONLINEAR DYNAMICS. THE JOSEPHSON EFFECT DESCRIBES THE PASSAGE OF COOPER PAIRS BETWEEN TWO SUPERCONDUCTORS SEPARATED BY A NON-SUPERCONDUCTING LAYER. A GOOD DESCRIPTION OF A JOSEPHSON JUNCTION IS GIVEN BY A NON-LINEAR EQUATION WITH A SINUSOIDAL TERM, ANALOGOUS TO THE EQUATION OF THE PHYSICAL PENDULUM. IN THE COURSE WE WILL START FROM THIS FORMULATION TO DESCRIBE THE ELECTRICAL PROPERTIES OF THE SINGLE JOSEPHSON ELEMENT, OF THE JOSEPHSON TRANSMISSION LINES, AND OF THE PURELY NON-LINEAR PHENOMENA THAT OCCUR: SOLITONS, CHAOS, AND THE COHERENT SYNCHRONIZATION OF OSCILLATIONS. FINALLY, THE OPERATING PRINCIPLES AND POTENTIAL APPLICATIONS OF A SQUID, I.E., A DEVICE FORMED BY INSERTING ONE OR MORE JOSEPHSON JUNCTIONS IN A RING OF SUPERCONDUCTING MATERIAL, WILL BE ILLUSTRATED. HOURS = 6 PART 2: SUPERCONDUCTIVE ELECTRONICS SUPERCONDUCTIVITY IS A STATE OF MATTER WITH A PURELY QUANTUM NATURE. HOWEVER, SINCE ITS DISCOVERY UNTIL TODAY, MANY APPLICATIONS OF GREAT PRACTICAL INTEREST HAVE BEEN DEVELOPED. IN ADDITION TO HINTS ON "POWER" APPLICATIONS INVOLVING HIGH CURRENTS AND MAGNETIC FIELDS, THE FOCUS WILL BE ON MORE PURE "ELECTRONIC" APPLICATIONS, WHICH ARE LARGELY BASED ON THE EXPLOITATION OF QUANTUM PROPERTIES ON A MACROSCOPIC SCALE. EXAMPLES OF APPLICATIONS OF SUPERCONDUCTORS AS MAGNETIC SENSORS, RADIATION DETECTORS, AND AS DIGITAL CIRCUITS (CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM) WILL BE ANALYZED IN DETAIL. THE MAIN APPLICATIONS IN THE FIELDS OF TELECOMMUNICATIONS, ASTRONOMY, MEDICINE, AND MATERIALS SCIENCE WILL ALSO BE ILLUSTRATED. HOURS = 8 PART 3: SUPERCONDUCTING QUBITS SUPERCONDUCTING QUBITS ARE SOLID-STATE ELECTRICAL CIRCUITS REALIZED BY TECHNIQUES USED FOR CONVENTIONAL INTEGRATED CIRCUITS. THEY ARE BASED ON JOSEPHSON TUNNEL JUNCTIONS, THE ONLY NON-DISSIPATIVE, HIGHLY NON-LINEAR CIRCUIT AVAILABLE AT LOW TEMPERATURES. UNLIKE MICROSCOPIC ENTITIES SUCH AS SPINS AND ATOMS, THEY TEND TO BE EASILY COUPLED TO OTHER CIRCUITS, WHICH MAKES THEM ACCESSIBLE FOR THE IMPLEMENTATION OF READING OPERATIONS AND LOGIC GATES. RECENTLY, NEW ARCHITECTURES BASED ON CIRCUITS WITH MANY JUNCTIONS HAVE BEEN PROPOSED TO SOLVE THE PROBLEM OF ISOLATION FROM EXTRINSIC ELECTROMAGNETIC PERTURBATIONS. IN THESE LESSONS WE WILL DISCUSS THE BASIC THEORY OF QUANTUM CIRCUITS, THE MAIN SUPERCONDUCTING QUBIT MODELS, AND FINALLY WE WILL MENTION THE DECOHERENCE PROBLEM. HOURS = 6

Contents

PART 1: JOSEPHSON EFFECT AND NONLINEAR DYNAMICS.
THE JOSEPHSON EFFECT DESCRIBES THE PASSAGE OF COOPER PAIRS BETWEEN TWO SUPERCONDUCTORS SEPARATED BY A NON-SUPERCONDUCTING LAYER. A GOOD DESCRIPTION OF A JOSEPHSON JUNCTION IS GIVEN BY A NON-LINEAR EQUATION WITH A SINUSOIDAL TERM, ANALOGOUS TO THE EQUATION OF THE PHYSICAL PENDULUM. IN THE COURSE WE WILL START FROM THIS FORMULATION TO DESCRIBE THE ELECTRICAL PROPERTIES OF THE SINGLE JOSEPHSON ELEMENT, OF THE JOSEPHSON TRANSMISSION LINES, AND OF THE PURELY NON-LINEAR PHENOMENA THAT OCCUR: SOLITONS, CHAOS, AND THE COHERENT SYNCHRONIZATION OF OSCILLATIONS. FINALLY, THE OPERATING PRINCIPLES AND POTENTIAL APPLICATIONS OF A SQUID, I.E., A DEVICE FORMED BY INSERTING ONE OR MORE JOSEPHSON JUNCTIONS IN A RING OF SUPERCONDUCTING MATERIAL, WILL BE ILLUSTRATED.
HOURS = 6

PART 2: SUPERCONDUCTIVE ELECTRONICS
SUPERCONDUCTIVITY IS A STATE OF MATTER WITH A PURELY QUANTUM NATURE. HOWEVER, SINCE ITS DISCOVERY UNTIL TODAY, MANY APPLICATIONS OF GREAT PRACTICAL INTEREST HAVE BEEN DEVELOPED. IN ADDITION TO HINTS ON "POWER" APPLICATIONS INVOLVING HIGH CURRENTS AND MAGNETIC FIELDS, THE FOCUS WILL BE ON MORE PURE "ELECTRONIC" APPLICATIONS, WHICH ARE LARGELY BASED ON THE EXPLOITATION OF QUANTUM PROPERTIES ON A MACROSCOPIC SCALE. EXAMPLES OF APPLICATIONS OF SUPERCONDUCTORS AS MAGNETIC SENSORS, RADIATION DETECTORS, AND AS DIGITAL CIRCUITS (CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM) WILL BE ANALYZED IN DETAIL. THE MAIN APPLICATIONS IN THE FIELDS OF TELECOMMUNICATIONS, ASTRONOMY, MEDICINE, AND MATERIALS SCIENCE WILL ALSO BE ILLUSTRATED.
HOURS = 8

PART 3: SUPERCONDUCTING QUBITS
SUPERCONDUCTING QUBITS ARE SOLID-STATE ELECTRICAL CIRCUITS REALIZED BY TECHNIQUES USED FOR CONVENTIONAL INTEGRATED CIRCUITS. THEY ARE BASED ON JOSEPHSON TUNNEL JUNCTIONS, THE ONLY NON-DISSIPATIVE, HIGHLY NON-LINEAR CIRCUIT AVAILABLE AT LOW TEMPERATURES. UNLIKE MICROSCOPIC ENTITIES SUCH AS SPINS AND ATOMS, THEY TEND TO BE EASILY COUPLED TO OTHER CIRCUITS, WHICH MAKES THEM ACCESSIBLE FOR THE IMPLEMENTATION OF READING OPERATIONS AND LOGIC GATES. RECENTLY, NEW ARCHITECTURES BASED ON CIRCUITS WITH MANY JUNCTIONS HAVE BEEN PROPOSED TO SOLVE THE PROBLEM OF ISOLATION FROM EXTRINSIC ELECTROMAGNETIC PERTURBATIONS. IN THESE LESSONS WE WILL DISCUSS THE BASIC THEORY OF QUANTUM CIRCUITS, THE MAIN SUPERCONDUCTING QUBIT MODELS, AND FINALLY WE WILL MENTION THE DECOHERENCE PROBLEM.
HOURS = 6

	Teaching Methods
	THE TEACHING METHODS USED ARE LECTURES. COLLECTIVE DISCUSSIONS AR ACTIVELY ENCOURAGED

	Verification of learning
	THE EXAM TAKES PLACE THROUGH THE EVALUATION OF THREE PAPERS TO BE WRITTEN INDIVIDUALLY ON TOPICS ASSIGNED BY THE TEACHERS AND CONCERNING COURSE CONTENTS. IF THE PAPERS SHOW SUFFICIENT MASTERY OF THE TOPICS, THE EXAM IS CONSIDERED PASSED.

	Texts
	COPY OF THE MATERIAL USED DURING THE LECTURES AND REFERENCES THEREIN

BETA VERSION Data source ESSE3 [Ultima Sincronizzazione: 2022-11-21]

Sergio PAGANO | JOSEPHSON EFFECT, SUPERCONDUCTING ELECTRONICS AND QUBIT FOR QUANTUM TECHNOLOGIES