The London field in bulk layered superconductors

Abstract

In a composite superconductor in uniform rotation, the London field strength at equilibrium is given by the usual expression B_L = 2m Omega/e; here m corresponds to the bare electron mass, although the effective mass m* can be different in different layers. In the presence of strong angular accelerations, however, transient phases and differences in m* can become relevant. In particular, if the layers are orthogonal to the rotation axis and one of them is much thinner than the others, the superconductor may enter metastable states characterized by intense "slide" supercurrents in this layer. We investigate this phenomenon theoretically and with reference to current experiments.