Trapped electron coupled to superconducting devices

We propose to couple a trapped single electron to superconducting structures located at a variable distance from the electron. The electron is captured in a cryogenic Penning trap using electric fields and a static magnetic field in the Tesla range. Measurements on the electron will allow investigating the properties of the superconductor such as vortex structure, damping and decoherence. We propose to couple a superconducting microwave resonator to the electron in order to realize a circuit QED-like experiment, as well as to couple superconducting Josephson junctions or superconducting quantum interferometers (SQUIDs) to the electron. The electron may also be coupled to a vortex which is situated in a double well potential, realized by nearby pinning centers in the superconductor, acting as a quantum mechanical two level system that can be controlled by a transport current tilting the double well potential. When the vortex is trapped in the interferometer arms of a SQUID, this would allow its detection both by the SQUID and by the electron.Comment: 13 pages, 5 figure

Monte-Carlo simulation of the particle transport during physical vapor deposition of ceramic superconductors

A simulation technique based on the Monte-Carlo method is develop for the description of the material transportation during physical vapor deposition of multicomponent material. The density distributions of the different species, as well as their energy and angular distributions are simulated during the material transport from the material source (e.g., target in case of sputter deposition technique) to the substrate. It is demonstrated, that particle densities (including stoichiometry), energy and angular distributions change during the transportation. These changes strongly depend on the pressure and composition of the process gas and the geometrical arrangements of the material source, substrates and recipient. As an example, high-pressure and low-pressure sputter deposition of oxide superconducting thin films are simulated. It is demonstrated, that the simulation procedure can be used to (i) optimize deposition parameters as well as (ii) the design and the geometry of deposition devices. (c) 2005 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved