Quantum states of a mesoscopic SQUID measured using a small Josephson junction

Abstract

We have experimentally studied the energy levels of a mesoscopic superconducting quantum interference device (SQUID) using inelastic Cooper-pair tunneling. The tunneling in a small Josephson junction depends strongly on its electromagnetic environment. We use this fact to do energy-level spectroscopy of a SQUID loop by coupling it to a small junction. Our samples with strong quasiparticle dissipation are well described by a model of a particle localized in one of the dips in a cosine potential, while in the samples with weak dissipation we can see formation of energy bands.