  We demonstrate the operation of a differential single Cooper-pair box, a
charge qubit consisting of two aluminum islands, isolated from ground, coupled
by a pair of small-area Josephson junctions, and read out with a
superconducting differential radio-frequency single electron transistor. We
have tested four devices, all of which show evidence of quasiparticle
poisoning. The devices are characterized with microwave spectroscopy and
temperature dependence studies, and Coulomb staircases are shown to be
e-periodic in all samples. However, coherent control is still possible with
non-adiabatic voltage pulses. Coherent oscillation experiments and a relaxation
time measurement were performed using a charge derivative readout technique.
