Levitation of a magnet over a flat type II superconductor

Abstract

Levitation of a magnet over a type II superconductor where the field at the superconductor exceeds Hc1 is described and shown. The penetration and pinning of the flux lines in the superconductor cause the position of the magnet to be stable over a flat disk; a complete Meissner effect would make this position unstable. Furthermore, the observed dependence of the height of levitation on such variables as the thickness of the superconducting disk and the size of the magnet are consistent with a model described in this paper based on the energy cost of flux penetration through vortices and inconsistent with a Meissner effect model.