Abstract
When a quantum-mechanical system undergoes an adiabatic cyclic evolution, it acquires a geometrical phase factor1 in addition to the dynamical one; this effect has been demonstrated in a variety of microscopic systems2. Advances in nanotechnology should enable the laws of quantum dynamics to be tested at the macroscopic level3, by providing controllable artificial two-level systems (for example, in quantum dots4 and superconducting devices5,6). Here we propose an experimental method to detect geometric phases in a superconducting device. The setup is a Josephson junction nanocircuit consisting of a superconducting electron box. We discuss how interferometry based on geometrical phases may be realized, and show how the effect may be applied to the design of gates for quantum computation.
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Acknowledgements
We thank D.V. Averin, A. Ekert, G. Giaquinta, J. Jones, B. Pannetier and E. Paladino for helpful discussions. G.F. acknowledges kind hospitality at LEPES-CNRS (Grenoble). Part of the work of R.F. was done at ISI-Torino. This work was supported by the European Community (TMR, IST-SQUIBIT, IST-EQUIP), by INFM-PRA-SSQI and by ELSAG S.p.A.
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Falci, G., Fazio, R., Palma, G. et al. Detection of geometric phases in superconducting nanocircuits. Nature 407, 355–358 (2000). https://doi.org/10.1038/35030052
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/35030052
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