Upper critical field for superconductors with edges and corners

Abstract

The effect of non-smoothness of sample surfaces on the value of the upper critical field HC3 and on the location of superconductivity nucleation is discussed. It is shown that, superconducting samples with edges and corners have higher value of HC3 comparing to samples with smooth surfaces. Superconductivity nucleates first at the top and bottom edges in a cylinder with a finite height, and nucleates first at vertices in a cuboid.