---
title: "Abrikosov vortices: magnetic flux entered without ending superconductivity"
description: "How can a superconductor contain magnetic flux and remain superconducting between the flux cores?"
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last_modified: "2026-10-23"
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[Cold liquids and superconducting order](https://sandboxphysics.com/stories/condensed-matter/#collective)

Materials · Measurements · Explanation

# Abrikosov vortices: magnetic flux entered without ending superconductivity

How can a superconductor contain magnetic flux and remain superconducting between the flux cores?

Sandbox Physics · 2026-10-23

Nobel contribution: 2003-1

1. Apply field to a type-II sample
2. Allow quantized vortices to enter
3. Compare superconducting and core regions
4. Test the mixed-state structure

A vortex lattice is an equilibrium idealization. Pinning, defects and motion can strongly alter a real sample’s response.

## The 1957 result opened a mixed state

Abrikosov used Ginzburg–Landau theory to show how type-II superconductors admit magnetic flux through vortices. The order parameter is suppressed near a vortex core and recovers away from it.

Between a lower and an upper critical field, superconductivity and magnetic flux coexist. This explains why certain superconductors can operate in fields much larger than a simple type-I picture suggests.

Sources: [2] [3]

## Flux comes in units fixed by the pair charge

A loop around a vortex constrains the order-parameter phase. The resulting flux scale depends on the charge carried by the condensate. The field profile extends beyond the core, so a vortex is not simply a normal cylindrical hole containing all its flux.

$$
\Phi_0=\frac{h}{2e}
$$

Sources: [2] [1]

## Imaging and bulk response test different parts

A periodic vortex arrangement can be tested through scattering or spatial magnetic probes. Magnetization locates broader field response, while resistance also depends on whether vortices move. A static equilibrium pattern alone does not predict a device’s critical current.

Sources: [2] [3]

## The teaching phase diagram has a defined limit

The critical-field Lab distinguishes flux exclusion, mixed-state flux and the normal state near the transition. It displays a schematic vortex arrangement, not acquired imaging data. The 2003 theory award is distinct from earlier material discoveries and superconducting-gap experiments.

Sources: [2] [4]

Continue with the physics

## Try the related models

### [Superconducting critical fields](https://sandboxphysics.com/labs/superconductor-critical-fields/)

Compare flux exclusion, vortex entry and destruction of superconductivity.

The isotropic Ginzburg–Landau model applies near the transition and is not a quantitative cuprate phase diagram.

## Sources and reading notes

1. [Ginzburg: On superconductivity and superfluidity (2003)](https://www.nobelprize.org/uploads/2018/06/ginzburg-lecture.pdf)

   The phenomenological order parameter, its effective charge and its range of validity.

2. [Abrikosov: Type-II superconductors and the vortex lattice (2003)](https://www.nobelprize.org/uploads/2018/06/abrikosov-lecture.pdf)

   Magnetic flux enters a type-II superconductor through quantized vortices.

3. [2003 Nobel scientific background: superconductors and superfluids](https://www.nobelprize.org/uploads/2018/06/advanced-physicsprize2003.pdf)

   Separates the theories of Ginzburg, Abrikosov and Leggett and their experimental setting.

4. [Nobel Prize in Physics 2003: official award](https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/physics/2003/summary/)

   Official attribution and award year. The observation or theoretical paper may be much earlier.

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