Single Cooper-pair pumping in the adiabatic limit and beyond

Abstract

We demonstrate controlled pumping of Cooper pairs down to the level of a single pair per cycle, using an rf-driven Cooper-pair sluice. We also investigate the breakdown of the adiabatic dynamics in two different ways. By transferring many Cooper pairs at a time, we observe a crossover between pure Cooper-pair and mixed Cooper-pair-quasiparticle transport. By tuning the Josephson coupling that governs Cooper-pair tunneling, we characterize Landau-Zener transitions in our device. Our data are quantitatively accounted for by a simple model including decoherence effects.