THE PARAMAGNETIC MEISSNER EFFECT RESULTING FROM THE PERSISTENCE OF THE GIANT VORTEX STATE

The paramagnetic Meissner effect (PME), recently observed in high-T-c materials and also in Nb, can be succesfully explained by the persiste nce of the giant vortex state with the fixed orbital quantum number L. This state is formed in superconductors in the field cooled regime at the third critical field. The self-consistent numerical solution of t he Ginzburg-Landau equations clearly shows that the compression of the flux trapped inside the giant vortex state results in the PME. The PM E is suppressed, and the normal diamagnetic response is recovered, by increasing the applied field.