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Frustrated Frustration of Arrays with Four-Terminal Nb-Pt-Nb Josephson Junctions

Justus Teller1,2,*, Christian Schäfer1,2, Kristof Moors1,2,†, Benjamin Bennemann3, Matvey Lyatti1,2, Florian Lentz4, Detlev Grützmacher1,2, Roman-Pascal Riwar5, and Thomas Schäpers1,2,‡

  • *Contact author: j.teller@fz-juelich.de
  • †Present Address: Imec, Kapeldreef 75, 3001 Leuven, Belgium.
  • ‡Contact author: th.schaepers@fz-juelich.de
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Phys. Rev. Lett. 135, 156002 – Published 9 October, 2025

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1103/gxdc-py56

Abstract

We study the frustration pattern of a square lattice with in situ fabricated Nb-Pt-Nb four-terminal Josephson junctions. The four-terminal geometry gives rise to a checkerboard pattern of alternating fluxes f, f′ piercing the plaquettes, which stabilizes the Berezinskii-Kosterlitz-Thouless transition even at irrational flux quanta per plaquette, due to an unequal repartition of integer flux sum f+f′ into alternating plaquettes. This type of frustrated frustration manifests as a beating pattern of the dc resistance, with state configurations at the resistance dips gradually changing between the conventional zero- and half-flux states. Hence, the four-terminal Josephson junction array offers a promising platform to study previously unexplored flux and vortex configurations and provides an estimate on the spatial expansion of the four-terminal Josephson junction central weak link area.

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Phys. Rev. Lett. 135, 156002– Published 9 October, 2025
  • Received 24 June 2025
  • Accepted 16 September 2025
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