Fluxon insertion into annular Josephson junctions

A technique of inserting magnetic fluxons into annular Josephson junctions is proposed and demonstrated experimentally. The method is based on local injection of current into one of the superconducting electrodes of the junction. The residual pinning of fluxons in the junction can be eliminated by choosing an appropriate injection current, which depends on the spacing between the injectors. The reported technique resolves the long-standing problem of a controlled preparation of fluxon states in annular Josephson junctions and can be used in various fluxon devices.