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Condensed-matter physics

Vortices and hearts

A single vortex of flux, formed inside a superconducting Josephson junction, has been detected undergoing quantum tunnelling — a feature that could be developed into a quantum bit.

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Figure 1: Quantum tunnelling and the single vortex.

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Clarke, J. Vortices and hearts. Nature 425, 133–136 (2003). https://doi.org/10.1038/425133a

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