Superconducting quantum bits

Superconducting devices can be used to explore the boundaries between the quantum and classical worlds, and could also have applications in quantum information. The quantum world looks very different to the ordinary world. A quantum particle can, for instance, be in two places simultaneously, while its speed and position cannot both be measured with complete accuracy at the same time. Moreover, if its mass is small enough, a quantum particle can tunnel through energy barriers that its classical counterparts could never cross. Physicists are comfortable with the use of quantum mechanics to describe atomic and subatomic particles. However, in recent years we have discovered that micron-sized objects that have been produced using standard semiconductor-fabrication techniques - objects that are small on everyday scales but large compared with atoms - can also behave as quantum particles. These artificial quantum objects might one day be used as 'quantum bits' in a quantum computer that could perform certain computational tasks much faster than any classical computing device. Before then, however, these devices will allow us to explore the interface between the quantum and classical worlds, and to study how interactions with external degrees of freedom lead to a gradual disappearance of quantum behaviour. (U.K.)