MEASUREMENT OF THE EFFECTIVE DISSIPATION IN AN-RF SQUID SYSTEM

We present an experimental study of the effective dissipation of a fully integrated Nb/AlOx/Nb Josephson device consisting of a rf SQUID coupled to a readout system based on a dc SQUID sensor. In the classical regime data on the decay rate from the metastable flux states of rf SQUID are reported. The low dissipation level and the good insulation of the probe from the external noise are encouraging in view of building a macroscopic quantum device.