Experiment showing a mechanical manifestation of the helicity of transport current in superconducting wires

Abstract

The transport current density of the mixed state of type II wires will have the form J = z J/sub z/ + THETA J/sub THETA/ when the supercurrent exhibits a helical distribution due to the application of an external field H/sub z/. This is proved by the magnetic moment measurements of Walmsley and Timms, who observed the so-called paramagnetic component of moment M when J/sub THETA/ not equal to 0. A mechanical manifestation of the helical current was observed by combining a normal-zone propagation experiment with a capacitive technique for measuring mechanical torsion of the sample. Moreover, the torsion was observed even when H/sub z/ = 0, an effect that might be explained by the theory of Kondo and Kuroda on the helicity of transport currents in normal metals due to spiral dislocations.