Quantum coherent manipulation and readout of superconducting vortex states

From the moment of its discovery, the antagonistic relation between superconductivity and a magnetic field has provided a complex playground for experimentalists and theorists alike. The measurement of the critical field and the Meissner effect 12 have anchored phase-transition theories 13 , 14 , and the trapping of quantized flux inside superconductors has provided direct evidence for the existence of Cooper pairs 15 . …