Double-Well Potentials in Current Qubits

The effective potentials of the rf-SQUID and three-Josephson junction loop with a penetrating external magnetic flux are studied. Using the periodic boundary condition for the phase evolution of the wave function of Cooper pairs, we obtain new periodic potentials with cusp barriers in contrast with the usual smooth double-well potential. The tunneling through the cusp barrier becomes dominant for a parameter regime where the self inductance of the superconducting loop and the Josephson coupling energy are large. Calculating the tunneling frequency we see that the cusp potential may offer a more efficient qubit.