Full splitting of the first zero-field steps in the I-V curve of Josephson junctions of intermediate length

We report on the observation of full splitting of the first zero-field steps in the I-V curves of Josephson transmission lines of intermediate length L≊(3–5)λJ, where λJ is the Josephson penetration length. We study in detail how this splitting of the step into two branches depends on the temperature of the junction and on a weak applied magnetic field. We relate the splitting to excitations in the junctions whose behavior is described by the perturbed sine-Gordon equation.