Focused ion beam (FIB) technology has been used to fabricate miniature Nb DC SQUIDs which incorporate resistively-shunted microbridge junctions and a central loop with a hole diameter ranging from 1058 nm to 50 nm. The smallest device, with a 50 nm hole diameter, has a white flux noise level of 2.6 microphy_{0}/Hz^{0.5} at 10^{4} Hz. The scaling of the flux noise properties and focusing effect of the SQUID with the hole size were examined. The observed low-frequency flux noise of different devices were compared with the contribution due to the spin fluctuation of defects during FIB processing and the thermally activated flux hopping in the SQUID washer.
We present results on ultra low noise YBa$_2$Cu$_3$O$_{7-delta}$ nano Superconducting QUantum Interference Devices (nanoSQUIDs). To realize such devices, we implemented high quality YBCO nanowires, working as weak links between two electrodes. We observe critical current modulation as a function of an externally applied magnetic field in the full temperature range below the transition temperature $T_C$. The white flux noise below 1 $mu Phi_0/sqrt{mathrm{Hz}}$ at T = 8 K makes our nanoSQUIDs very attractive for the detection of small spin systems.
We have performed flux noise and AC-susceptibility measurements on two 400 nm thick MgB$_2$ films. Both measurement techniques give information about the vortex dynamics in the sample, and hence the superconducting transition, and can be linked to each other through the fluctuation-dissipation-theorem. The transition widths for the two films are 0.3 and 0.8 K, respectively, and the transitions show a multi step-like behavior in the AC-susceptibility measurements. The same phenomenon is observed in the flux noise measurements through a change in the frequency dependence of the spectral density at each step in the transition. The results are discussed and interpreted in terms of vortices carrying an arbitrary fraction of a flux quantum as well as in terms of different macroscopic regions in the films having slightly different compositions, and hence, different critical temperatures.
We have studied decoherence in a system where two Josephson-junction flux qubits share a part of their superconducting loops and are inductively coupled. By tuning the flux bias condition, we control the sensitivities of the energy levels to flux noises in each qubit. The dephasing rate of the first excited state is enhanced or suppressed depending on the amplitudes and the signs of the sensitivities. We have quantified the $1/f$ flux noises and their correlations and found that the dominant contribution is by local fluctuations.
We present a new method to measure 1/f noise in Josephson quantum bits (qubits) that yields low-frequency spectra below 1Hz. Comparison of noise taken at positive and negative bias of a phase qubit shows the dominant noise source to be flux noise and not junction critical-current noise, with a magnitude similar to that measured previously in other systems. Theoretical calculations show that the level of flux noise is not compatible with the standard model of noise from two-level state defects in the surface oxides of the films.
We present the analysis of the mean switching time and its standard deviation of an overdamped Josephson junction, driven by a direct current and a single flux quantum (SFQ) pulse. The performed analysis allows to find the optimal value of the bias current of the clock generator, responsible for the shape of SFQ pulse, which minimizes noise-induced switching errors.