Impact of the transport supercurrent on the Josephson effect

We study the weak link between current-carrying superconductors, both conventional and d-wave. The state of the system is controlled by two parameters: the order parameter phase difference $\phi$ and the superfluid velocity $v_{s}$, which parameterizes the parallel to the boundary transport supercurrent which is injected externally. The low-temperature current-phase relations are derived. We consider two models of weak links: a constriction between two conventional superconductors and a plane boundary between two differently orientated d-wave superconductors. We show that for some relation between $\phi$ and $v_{s}$ quasiparticles create the current along the boundary which flows in the direction opposite to the transport supercurrent.Comment: 5 pages, 3 figures; submitted for publication in Proceedings of MS+S2004 symposium (without Sec.V and the last part of Sec.III

Resonant effects in the strongly driven phase-biased Cooper-pair box

We study the time-averaged upper level occupation probability in a strongly driven two level system, particularly its dependence on the driving amplitude, frequency and the energy level separation. In contrast to the case of weak driving, when the positions of the resonances almost do not depend on the driving amplitude, in the case of the strong diving their positions are strongly amplitude-dependent. We study these resonances in the concrete system -- the strongly driven phase-biased Cooper-pair box, which is considered to be weakly coupled to the tank circuit

Josephson and spontaneous currents at the interface between two d-wave superconductors with transport current in the banks

A stationary Josephson effect in the ballistic contact of two d-wave superconductors with different axes orientation and with tangential transport current in the banks is considered theoretically. We study the influence of the transport current on the current-phase dependence for the Josephson and tangential currents at the interface. It is demonstrated that the spontaneous surface current at the interface depends on the transport current in the banks due to the interference of the angle-dependent current-carrying condensate wave functions of the two superconductors.Comment: to be published in Fiz. Nizk. Temp. (Sov. J. Low Temp. Phys.), Vol.30, No.3 (2004

Conductance characteristics of current-carrying d-wave weak links

The local quasiparticle density of states in the current-carrying d-wave superconducting structures was studied theoretically. The density of states can be accessed through the conductance of the scanning tunnelling microscope. Two particular situations were considered: the current state of the homogeneous film and the weak link between two current-carrying d-wave superconductors.Comment: 4 pages, 3 figures; to appear in Low. Temp. Phy

Resonance at the Rabi frequency in a superconducting flux qubit

We analyze a system composed of a superconducting flux qubit coupled to a transmission-line resonator driven by two signals with frequencies close to the resonator's harmonics. The first strong signal is used for exciting the system to a high energetic state while a second weak signal is applied for probing effective eigenstates of the system. In the framework of doubly dressed states we showed the possibility of amplification and attenuation of the probe signal by direct transitions at the Rabi frequency. We present a brief review of theoretical and experimental works where a direct resonance at Rabi frequency have been investigated in superconducting flux qubits. The interaction of the qubit with photons of two harmonics has prospects to be used as a quantum amplifier (microwave laser) or an attenuator.Comment: This paper is the extended version of the talk given by one of the authors at the Conference On Nuclei And Mesoscopic Physics, 5-9 May 2014, Michigan State University, East Lansing, US

Inverse Landau-Zener-Stuckelberg problem for qubit-resonator systems

We consider theoretically a superconducting qubit - nanomechanical resonator (NR) system, which was realized by LaHaye et al. [Nature 459, 960 (2009)]. First, we study the problem where the state of the strongly driven qubit is probed through the frequency shift of the low-frequency NR. In the case where the coupling is capacitive, the measured quantity can be related to the so-called quantum capacitance. Our theoretical results agree with the experimentally observed result that, under resonant driving, the frequency shift repeatedly changes sign. We then formulate and solve the inverse Landau-Zener-Stuckelberg problem, where we assume the driven qubit's state to be known (i.e. measured by some other device) and aim to find the parameters of the qubit's Hamiltonian. In particular, for our system the qubit's bias is defined by the NR's displacement. This may provide a tool for monitoring of the NR's position.Comment: 10 pages, 7 figure