Flux entry in type-II superconductors without prominent symmetry is a first-order phase transition, where flux enters conventionally gradual in units of a flux quantum. Here we show that neither is necessarily the case in a mesoscopic superconducting sphere with a perforation. In axially applied magnetic field, vortices initially occupy the hole, and can oppose further flux entry in the sample. As a result, multiple-quanta flux entry is found at significantly higher field, and it can manifest as a second-order transition due to suppressed geometric barrier at the equatorial belt of the sample. At high fields a new state is found, with gradually destroyed condensate from the equator inwards, the exact opposite of surface superconductivity.

• Received 2 August 2010

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevB.82.214501