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    Ab initio superfluid weight and superconducting penetration depth

    Kaja H. Hiorth1, Martin Gutierrez-Amigo1, Théo Cavignac2, Kristjan Haule3, Miguel A. L. Marques2, and Päivi Törmä1,2,*

    • 1Department of Applied Physics, Aalto University School of Science, FI00076 Aalto, Finland
    • 2Research Center Future Energy Materials and Systems of the University Alliance Ruhr and Interdisciplinary Centre for Advanced Materials Simulation, Ruhr University Bochum, Universitätsstraße 150, D-44801 Bochum, Germany
    • 3Center for Materials Theory, Department of Physics and Astronomy, Rutgers University, Piscataway, New Jersey 08854, USA

    • *Contact author: paivi.torma@aalto.fi

    Phys. Rev. B 113, 224509 – Published 5 June, 2026

    DOI: https://doi.org/10.1103/2xrg-6fy6

    Abstract

    Machine learning and high-throughput screening approaches to superconductor discovery require physically meaningful descriptors that capture essential physics while remaining computationally tractable. The superfluid weight is an ideal descriptor as it is a prerequisite for superconductivity, determines the magnetic penetration depth and the Berezinskii-Kosterlitz-Thouless transition temperature in two-dimensional materials, may limit the critical temperature in unconventional superconductors through phase coherence, and reveals quantum geometric contributions to supercurrent transport. We develop a computationally efficient framework for calculating the zero-temperature, mean-field superfluid weight for uniform pairing from density functional theory band structures and Bloch wave functions. We separately evaluate the conventional contribution from band curvature and the geometric contribution from quantum geometry. To validate the method, we calculate London penetration depths for a few conventional superconductors (Al, Pb, Nb, MgB2, LuRu3B2, and YRu3B2) and find good agreement with experiment after accounting for nonlocal corrections, strong-coupling effects, and sample quality. The conventional contribution dominates by orders of magnitude in these wideband materials, as expected. This framework provides a foundation for large-scale screening of superconducting candidates and exploring quantum geometric effects in unconventional superconductors.

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