Cooperative dynamics in coupled noisy dynamical systems near a critical point: The dc superconducting quantum interference device as a case study

Dynamical systems that operate near the onset of coupling-induced oscillations can exhibit enhanced sensitivity to external perturbations under suitable operating parameters. This cooperative behavior and the attendant enhancement in the system response (quantified here via a signal-to-noise ratio at the fundamental of the coupling-induced oscillation frequency) are investigated in this work. As a prototype, we study an array of dc superconducting quantum interference device (SQUID) rings locally coupled, unidirectionally as well as bidirectionally, in a ring configuration; it is well known that each individual SQUID can be biased through a saddle-node bifurcation to oscillatory behavior. We show that biasing the array near the bifurcation point of coupling-induced oscillations can lead to a significant performance enhancement.