Single cooper pair electronics

Abstract

Single electron devices are based on small normal metal electrodes called ‘islands’ separated by tunnel junctions. In such circuits, electrons can be transfered one by one when the energy of thermal fluctuations is less than the electrostatic energy necessary to add an extra electron to an island. We present here experimental results in single electron devices for which all normal-metal electrodes are replaced by superconducting ones. In such devices coherent Cooper pair tunneling (i.e. the DC-Josephson effect) combines with Coulomb blockade. These effects can be tuned in such a way that signatures of the macroscopic quantum coherence between two well-defined charge states become observable.