We report experimental evidence for the electric-field-induced electronic instability in the vortex state of superconducting amorphous ${\mathrm{Mo}}_3$Si 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.

• Received 27 July 1995

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.75.4118