The work presented in this thesis investigates transitions between quantum states in superconducting double dots (SDDs), a nanoscale device consisting of two aluminium superconducting islands coupled together by a Josephson junction, with each dot connected to a normal state lead. The energy landscape consists of a two level manifold of even charge parity Cooper pair states, and continuous bands corresponding to charge states with single quasiparticles in one or both islands. These devices are fabricated using shadow mask evaporation, and are measured at sub Kelvin temperatures using a dilution refrigerator. We use radio frequency reflectometry to measure quantum capacitance, which is dependent on the quantum state of the device. We measure the quantum capacitance as a function of gate voltage, and observe capacitance maxima corresponding to the Josephson coupling between even parity states. We also perform charge sensing and detect odd parity states. These measurements support the theoretical model of the energy landscape of the SDD. By measuring the quantum capacitance in the time domain, we observe random switching of capacitance between two levels. We determine this to be the stochastic breaking and recombination of single Cooper pairs. By carrying out spectroscopy of the bath responsible for the pair breaking we attribute it to black-body radiation in the cryogenic environment. We also drive the breaking process with a continuous microwave signal, and find that the rate is linearly proportional to incident power. This suggests that a single photon process is responsible, and demonstrates the potential of the SDD as a single photon microwave detector. We investigate this mechanism further, and design an experiment in which the breaking rate is enhanced when the SDD is in the antisymmetric state rather than the symmetric state. We also measure the quantum capacitance of a charge isolated double dot. We observe 2e periodicity, indicating the tunnelling of Cooper pairs and the lack of occupation of quasiparticle states. This work is relevant to the range of experiments investigating the effect of non-equilibrium quasiparticles on the operation of superconducting qubits and other superconducting devices.

Any set of finitely presented left modules defines a relative purity for left modules and also apurity for right modules. Purities defined by various classes are compared and investigated,especially in the contexts of modules over semiperfect rings and over tame hereditary, andmore general, finite-dimensional algebras. Connections between the indecomposable relativelypure-injective modules and closure in the full support topology (a refinement of theZiegler spectrum) are described.Duality between left and right modules is used to define the concept of a class of leftmodules and a class of right modules forming an almost dual pair. Definability of suchclasses is investigated, especially in the case that one class is the closure of a set of finitelypresented modules under direct limits. Elementary duality plays an important role here.Given a set of finitely presented modules, the corresponding proper class of relativelypure-exact sequences can be used to define a relative notion of cotorsion pair, which weinvestigate.The results of this thesis unify and extend a wide range of results in the literature.