Open quantum dynamics of Josephson charge pumps

  1. Ankit Kumar,
  2. Luis Cort,
  3. Marcin Łobejko,
  4. Alejandro Jenkins,
  5. and Michał Horodecki
We investigate the macroscopic dynamics of Josephson charge pumps in the light of Alicki et al.’s theoretical description of the Josephson junction as an open quantum system described
by a Markovian master equation. If the Coulomb interaction between the terminals is taken into account, we find that the resulting description of pumping is physically reasonable and in good qualitative agreement with experimental observations. We comment on how this approach relates to other theoretical treatments of quantum pumps based on time-dependent potentials or scattering amplitudes. We also highlight the significance of our results in the broader context of the dynamics of charge pumping by active systems.