Maximum velocity of a fluxon in a stack of coupled Josephson junctions

Dynamics of a fluxon in a stack of inductively coupled long Josephson junctions is studied analytically and numerically. We demonstrate that the fluxon has a maximum velocity, which does not necessarily coincide with any of the characteristic Josephson plasma wave velocities. The maximum fluxon velocity is found by means of numerical simulations of the quasi-infinite system. Using the variational approximation, we propose a simple analytical formula for the dependence of the fluxon's maximum velocity on the coupling constant and on the distribution of critical currents in different layers. This analysis yields rather precise results in the limit of small dissipation. The simulations also show that nonzero dissipation additionally stabilizes the fluxon. (C) 2000 Published by Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.