Autonomous stochastic resonance in fully frustrated Josephson-junction ladders

Abstract

We investigate autonomous stochastic resonance in fully frustrated Josephson-junction ladders, which are driven by uniform constant currents. At zero temperature large currents induce oscillations between the two ground states, while for small currents the lattice potential forces the system to remain in one of the two states. At finite temperatures, on the other hand, oscillations between the two states develop even below the critical current; the signal-to-noise ratio is found to display array-enhanced stochastic resonance. It is suggested that such behavior may be observed experimentally through the measurement of the staggered voltage.