ABSTRACT
Quantum mechanics and superconductivity are intimately connected on many levels. Quantum mechanics is needed to understand why a metal is a metal. The BCS condensate of Cooper pairs would not exist without quantum mechanics, nor could Cooper pairs tunnel through the barriers of Josephson junctions. The name SQUID is the abbreviation of superconducting quantum interference device. Yet another level of quantumness has been added in the last two decades. It turns out to be possible to design and fabricate superconducting objects that have macroscopic dimensions and properties, but behave as if they are single quantum particles. Amplitude and phase of the superconducting wavefunction act as conjugate quantum variables. Practical devices and circuits make use of Josephson junctions to reach the parameter values that are needed, but there is a clear distinction from the Josephson electronics circuits in the other chapters of this book. The latter may, in this context, well be referred to as being classical.
