Temperature dependence of the superheating field for superconductors in the high-k London limit

TL;DR

This paper investigates how the maximum magnetic field a superconductor can withstand before losing its superconducting state varies with temperature, extending beyond traditional theories near the critical temperature.

Contribution

It derives a generalized thermodynamic potential using Eilenberger's approximation to analyze superheating field dependence across all temperatures, beyond Ginzburg-Landau limits.

Findings

Superheating field decreases with increasing temperature.

Derived a temperature-dependent superheating field formula.

Implications for superconducting cavity design in accelerators.

Abstract

We study the metastability of the superheated Meissner state in type II superconductors with k >> 1 beyond Ginzburg-Landau theory, which is applicable only in the vicinity of the critical temperature. Within Eilenberger's semiclassical approximation, we use the local electrodynamic response of the superconductor to derive a generalized thermodynamic potential valid at any temperature. The stability analysis of this functional yields the temperature dependence of the superheating field. Finally, we comment on the implications of our results for superconducting cavities in particle accelerators.