We theoretically find that the resistance of a superconducting microbridge or nanowire decreases while the retrapping current $I_r$ for the transition to the superconducting state increases when one suppresses the magnitude of the order parameter $\left|\Delta \right|$ in the attached superconducting leads. This effect is a consequence of the increased energy interval for diffusion of the “hot” nonequilibrium quasiparticles (induced by the oscillations of $\left|\Delta \right|$ in the center of the microbridge) to the leads. The effect is absent in short microbridges (with length less than the coherence length) and it is relatively weak in long microbridges (with length larger than the inelastic relaxation length of the nonequilibrium distribution function). A nonmonotonous dependence of $I_r$ on the length of the microbridge is predicted. Our results are important for the explanation of the enhancement of the critical current and the appearance of negative magnetoresistance observed in many recent experiments on superconducting microbridges or nanowires.

• Received 29 September 2011

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevB.85.024508