Superconductivity-Related Insulating Behavior

The results of an experimental study of superconducting, disordered, thin films of amorphous indium oxide was presented. It was shown that these films could be driven from the superconducting phase to a reentrant insulating state by the application of a perpendicular magnetic field (B). It was found that the high B insulator exhibited activated transport with a characteristic temperature, T_I. It was also found that T_I had a maximum value (T_I^p) that was close to the superconducting transition temperature, suggesting a possible relation between the conduction mechanisms in the superconducting and insulating phases.