Superconducting electrometer based on the resistively shunted Bloch transistor

We have fabricated the Bloch transistor shunted on-chip by a small-sized Cr resistor with R/sub s/=1 k/spl Omega/. The Bloch transistor normally consists of two small Josephson junctions connected in series, which in our case have been replaced by two superconducting interferometer loops, each with two junctions in parallel. A capacitively coupled gate is supplied to control the induced charge of the small intermediate electrode (island) of the transistor. The measured I-V curves show no hysteresis and correspond to the operation of a effective Josephson junction at the high-damping and strong-noise limits. The critical current of the system was found to be close to its nominal value, that is in accordance with the electromagnetic environment theory. The I-V curves were modulated by the gate with a period of e and a maximum swing of about 2 /spl mu/V. Such rather moderate modulation results from the Josephson-to-charging energies ratio, E/sub J//E/sub C//spl ap/9, in our sample being far from its optimum value (/spl ap/0.3+1).