# Controlled Generation of Chimera States in SQUID Metasurfaces using DC Flux Gradients

## TL;DR

This paper demonstrates how to generate and control chimera states in SQUID metasurfaces using a dc flux gradient and ac flux amplitude, with predictive measures for state multiplicity and distinction from other states.

## Contribution

It introduces a method to generate and manipulate chimera states in SQUID metasurfaces with zero initial conditions, using flux gradients and amplitude control, and develops measures to predict and distinguish these states.

## Key findings

- Chimera states can be generated with zero initial conditions.
- The number and location of chimera 'heads' are controllable via flux parameters.
- Measures like the synchronization parameter and chimera index predict state multiplicity.

## Abstract

SQUID (Superconducting QUantum Interference Device) metamaterials, subject to a time-independent (dc) flux gradient and driven by a sinusoidal (ac) flux field, support chimera states that can be generated with zero initial conditions. The dc flux gradient and the amplitude of the ac flux can control the number of desynchronized clusters of such a generated chimera state (i.e., its `heads') as well as their location and size. The combination of three measures, i.e., the synchronization parameter averaged over the period of the driving flux, the incoherence index, and the chimera index, is used to predict the generation of a chimera state and its multiplicity on the parameter plane of the dc flux gradient and the ac flux amplitude. Moreover, the full-width half-maximum of the distribution of the values of the synchronization parameter averaged over the period of the ac driving flux, allows to distinguish chimera states from non-chimera, partially synchronized states.