Josephson Persistent-Current Qubit

Abstract

A qubit was designed that can be fabricated with conventional electron beam lithography and is suited for integration into a large quantum computer. The qubit consists of a micrometer-sized loop with three or four Josephson junctions; the two qubit states have persistent currents of opposite direction. Quantum superpositions of these states are obtained by pulsed microwave modulation of the enclosed magnetic flux by currents in control lines. A superconducting flux transporter allows for controlled transfer between qubits of the flux that is generated by the persistent currents, leading to entanglement of qubit information.