Interactions Of Topological Kinks In Two Coupled Rings Of Nonlinear Oscillators

Two discrete rings of nonlinear oscillators with topologically trapped kinks exhibit features due to coupling interactions between the rings. These interaction effects include phase locking between kinks in different rings, precession of the kink/antikink collision region, excitation of kink/antikink pairs, and time-dependent switching. We study these phenomena in simulations of two coupled discrete sine-Gordon equations, and in experiments on two inductively coupled rings of niobium Josephson junctions.