Our research focused on Josephson junctions, which are tiny circuit elements consisting of a thin insulating layer between 2 superconducting pieces of metal (niobium).  Current passes through a junction in accordance with the nonlinear differential equation describing its state, and this current is proportional to its critical current.  Each junction has a critical current associated with it, and the critical current is dependent on the geometry of the junction.  A voltage can be established across a junction if a current higher than its critical current is passed through the junction. Because Josephson junctions are superconducting circuit elements, our experiment is done at a range of temperatures (.25K to 4.2K using a 3He cryostat), all below that of the critical temperature of niobium.  We coupled 24  Josephson junctions together in a 1 dimensional array or “ladder.”  We used smaller Josephson junctions to couple together the other 24.  We did this because of the nonlinear properties of Josephson junctions.  The 24       junctions of interest are, thus, coupled nonlinearly by the coupling junctions.  We use the nonlinear coupling to induce two modes in the     ladder.  One mode, the breather mode, is a localized voltage state.  In this mode, only one junction experiences a voltage across it, while the others do not.  The other, a vortex, is a swirl of current.  No junctions have a voltage across them in this state.  In general, the vortex is a static state. But for our experiment, we set the vortex in motion towards the breather and observed what happened when they interacted.  We have the ability to apply a current to the entire array, apply a current to generate a breather at one junction, and apply a current to generate a vortex at the end of the array.  Also, we can check the voltages across 4 junctions.  This is how we controlled and observed what was happening in the experiment.  Numerical simulations have predicted that the breather would pin the vortex at small enough array currents.  Our data seems to differ from that prediction.  We found that the presence of a breather does not pin the vortex.  In fact, it seems to have helped it propagate and not stop its progress.  These are the first experiments  observing this interaction.