Orbital effect on the in-plane critical field in free-standing superconducting nanofilms

Abstract

The superconductor to normal metal phase transition induced by the in-plane magnetic field is studied in free-standing Pb(111) nanofilms. In the considered structures the energy quantization induced by the confinement leads to the thickness-dependent oscillations of the critical field (the so-called 'shape resonances'). In this paper we examine the influence of the orbital effect on the in-plane critical magnetic field in nanofilms. We demonstrate that the orbital term suppresses the critical field and reduces the amplitude of the thickness-dependent critical field oscillations. Moreover, due to the orbital effect, the slope $H_{c,||}-T_c$ at $T_c(0)$ becomes finite and decreases with increasing film thickness in agreement with recent experiments. The temperature $t^*$ at which the superconductor to normal metal phase transition becomes of the first order is also analyzed.