Macroscopic Quantum Coherence and Quantum Computing

the long version

This volume gives the historical and recent theoretical ground of the topic as well as detailed information on experimental results on the quantum behavior of macroscopic systems, together with some considerations on perspectives in the quantum computing area. Particular attention is given to the coherence effects in Josephson systems. The correlation with other atomic and molecular systems, exhibiting a macroscopic quantum coherence behavior is also discussed. Such proposals are considered for implementation of various schemes for coherent information processing and quantum computation.