Nonreciprocal microwave transmission through a long Josephson junction in the flux-flow regime is studied analytically and numerically within the framework of the perturbed sine-Gordonmodel. We demonstrate that the maximum attenuation of the transmitted power occurs when the direction of the flux flow is opposite to the direction of the microwave propagation. This attenuation is nonreciprocal with respect to the flux-flow direction and can be enhanced by increasing the system length and proper impedance matching of the junction ends to external transmission line.
We describe fabrication and testing of composite flux qubits combining Nb- and Al-based superconducting circuit technology. This hybrid approach to making qubits allows for employingpi-phase shifters fabricated using well-established Nb-based technology of superconductor-ferromagnet-superconductor Josephson junctions. The important feature here is to obtain high interface transparency between Nb and Al layers without degrading sub-micron shadow mask. We achieve this by in-situ Ar etching using e-beam gun. Shadow-evaporated Al/AlOx/Al Josephson junctions with Nb bias pads show the expected current-voltage characteristics with reproducible critical currents. Using this technique, we fabricated composite Nb/Al flux qubits with Nb/CuNi/Nb pi-shifters and measured their magnetic field response. The observed offset between the field responses of the qubits with and without pi-junction is attributed to the pi phase shift. The reported approach can be used for implementing a variety of hybrid Nb/Al superconducting quantum circuits.