Electric-field-induced electronic instability in amorphous Mo3Si superconducting films

We report experimental evidence for the electric-field-induced electronic instability in the vortex state of superconducting amorphous Mo3Si films. At low magnetic fields, this instability results in an anticlockwise hysteresis of the voltage-current characteristics, as predicted by Larkin and Ovchinnikov, whereas at high magnetic fields the hysteresis is clockwise. To explain the unprecedented clockwise hysteresis, we propose that the inelastic quasiparticle scattering rate is higher after the electronic system is driven into the normal state by the electric field. © 1995 The American Physical Society.