Applications of superconductivity in electronics are mainly based on the Josephson effect. After an introduction to the Josephson effect, its applications in computer circuits and in magnetometers will primarily be described.
Computer circuits with Josephson junctions are of in terest because they promise to have lower power consumption and shorter switching times than today's semiconductor circuits. A realized memory cell is briefly discussed.
Magnetometers are based on superconducting rings incorporating one or two Josephson junctions. They allow extremely sensitive and precise measurements of magnetic fields and have been applied, for instance, in biology and geology.
Other applications of the Josephson effect such as in voltage standards and for submillimeter microwave devices are also mentioned.
Most of these applications use liquid helium cooling. The heat dissipation is in the range from mW to W so that requirements for refrigerating systems are modest.
Low temperature superconducting electronic and computer circuits P. Wolf
Superconductivity took a very long time to find its way into applications. There are mainly two reasons for the slow progress. One is, of course, the requirement for cooling to very low temperatures. The second reason is that only in the last decades have materials and effects been found which are well suited for applications. One example is type-II superconductivity which made it possible to generate very high magnetic fields. Another example to be dealt with in this paper, is the Josephson effect which is applied in new electronic circuits in a number of quite different fields.
In this paper, first a brief introduction to superconductivity is given, then a short discussion of the Josephson effect follows. Finally, several applications of the Josephson effect are described with emphasis on computer circuits and magnetometers.