Andreev probing of a Cooper-pair flying qubit

Abstract

We propose a superconducting nanomechanical device that can actuate and probe an oscillating flying qubit facilitating quantum information transfer over a distance. The flying qubit is formed by a movable Cooper-pair box (CPB) consisting of a superconducting dot and a bulk superconductor, which are entangled by lifting the Coulomb blockade of Cooper-pair tunneling electrostatically. We show that flying qubit states formed on a movable CPB can be observed in electron transport to a normal electrode via Andreev reflections. The charge transfer due to periodic mechanical motion of CPB leads to the occurrence of a nonzero current at zero bias voltage, and its coherence can be identified through the oscillatory current dependence of the current on a gate voltage. The proposed device provides a building block for dissipationless quantum information circuits.