Transparency-engineered SQUID cells for Kerr-free three-wave-mixing Josephson metamaterials

Abstract

We introduce a transparency-engineered rf-SQUID cell for Kerr-free three-wave-mixing Josephson metamaterials. This design replaces the conventional tunnel-junction element with an effective Josephson element formed by two junctions in series, yielding a non-sinusoidal energy-phase relation that can be used as a tunable nonlinear design resource. We show that the asymmetry between the two series junctions and the applied flux bias provide independent control over the local expansion of the rf-SQUID potential, enabling operating points where the leading quartic Kerr term is suppressed while the cubic nonlinearity remains finite. We derive the corresponding Kerr-free condition, identify the resulting operating ridge in parameter space, and analyze the local stability and passive-matching constraints that bound its physically accessible portion. Our results provide a compact unit-cell design principle for three-wave-mixing Josephson metamaterials and suggest a route toward Kerr-suppressed Josephson traveling-wave parametric amplifiers.