Properties of Mesoscopic Hybrid Superconducting Systems

In this paper we review several aspects of mesoscopic hybrid superconducting systems. In particular we consider charge and heat transport properties in hybrid superconducting-metal structures and the effect of charging energy in superconducting nanostructures.Comment: 27 pages, 8 figure

Ultra-low dissipation Josephson transistor

A superconductor-normal metal-superconductor (SNS) transistor based on superconducting microcoolers is presented. The proposed 4-terminal device consists of a long SNS Josephson junction whose N region is in addition symmetrically connected to superconducting reservoirs through tunnel barriers (I). Biasing the SINIS line allows to modify the quasiparticle temperature in the weak link, thus controlling the Josephson current. We show that, in suitable voltage and temperature regimes, large supercurrent enhancements can be achieved with respect to equilibrium, due to electron ``cooling'' generated by the control voltage. The extremely low power dissipation intrinsic to the structure makes this device relevant for a number of electronic applications.Comment: 4 pages, 3 figures, to appear in Applied Physics Letter

Electronic implementations of Interaction-Free Measurements

Three different implementations of interaction-free measurements (IFMs) in solid-state nanodevices are discussed. The first one is based on a series of concatenated Mach-Zehnder interferometers, in analogy to optical-IFM setups. The second one consists of a single interferometer and concatenation is achieved in the time domain making use of a quantized electron emitter. The third implementation consists of an asymmetric Aharonov-Bohm ring. For all three cases we show that the presence of a dephasing source acting on one arm of the interferometer can be detected without degrading the coherence of the measured current. Electronic implementations of IFMs in nanoelectronics may play a fundamental role as very accurate and noninvasive measuring schemes for quantum devices.Comment: 12 pages, 10 figure