Josephson thermal memory

Abstract

We propose a superconducting thermal memory device that exploits the thermal hysteresis in a flux-controlled, temperature-biased superconducting quantum-interference device (SQUID). This system reveals a flux-controllable temperature bistability, which can be used to define two well-distinguishable thermal logic states. We discuss a suitable writing-reading procedure for these memory states. The time of the memory writing operation is expected to be on the order of ~0.2 ns, for a Nb-based SQUID in thermal contact with a phonon bath at 4:2 K. We suggest a non-invasive readout scheme for the memory states based on the measurement of the effective resonance frequency of a tank circuit inductively coupled to the SQUID. The proposed device paves the way for a practical implementation of thermal logic and computation. The advantage of this proposal is that it represents also an example of harvesting thermal energy in superconducting circuits.