Correction to the formula for the London moment of a rotating superconductor

Abstract

This paper gives a full quantum mechanical analysis of the magnetic field (first discussed by London) that appears spontaneously when a sample of superconductor is set into rotation. It is shown that, for slow rotation velocities and using certain approximations, the field B threading a cavity within a superconductor that rotates at angular velocity ω is given by eB=2(mo-W/c2)ω, where - e is the charge on the electron, mo is the free electron mass, W is the work function of the superconductor, and c is the velocity of light. In this calculation effects that are second order in the rotation velocity have been ignored, and the result is only strictly valid at the zero of temperature. The application of this result to experiments using practical, nonideal apparatus is then illustrated for a simple geometry. © 1982 Plenum Publishing Corporation.