Voltage-induced thin-film superconductivity in high magnetic fields

TL;DR

This paper predicts that applying a DC voltage bias can stabilize superconductivity in thin films under high magnetic fields, exceeding traditional limits, supported by analytical, numerical, and experimental signature analyses.

Contribution

It introduces a novel mechanism for stabilizing superconductivity in high magnetic fields through nonequilibrium voltage bias, including a new kinetic equation formulation.

Findings

Superconductivity can be restored in fields much larger than the Chandrasekhar-Clogston limit.

Numerical calculations confirm the stabilization effect.

Provides experimental signatures for the predicted phenomenon.

Abstract

We predict that superconductivity in thin films can be stabilized in high magnetic fields if the superconductor is driven out of equilibrium by a DC voltage bias. For realistic material parameters and temperatures, we show that superconductivity is restored in fields many times larger than the Chandrasekhar-Clogston limit. After motivating the effect analytically, we perform rigorous numerical calculations to corroborate the findings, and present concrete experimental signatures. On the technical side, we also introduce a new form for the nonequilibrium kinetic equations, which generalizes and simplifies previous formulations of the problem.