Does there exist a superinsulating dual to quantum flux pinning?

Question

The phenomenon of flux pinning is well documented in popular science. It essentially arises from the fact that a superconductor expels all magnetic fields unless the field travels through a very small "quantized" path of defects (called a quantized flux tube and is an example of a quantum vortex). And deforming these paths is energetically very expensive, they represent a local energy minima of sorts.

I'm curious if a dual effect exists for a superinsulator whereby the superinsulator can be pinned in space above a sufficiently strongly charged electric dipole (or monopole+higher pole?). In essence I'm asking a specific version of the question "how far does the phrase: 'superinsulation can be regarded as an exact dual to superconductivity', really go?".

In order for this to exist there needs to be a notion of "charge tube", a notion of quantized charge vortices in a superinsulator.

Answer 1

According to my reading of Relaxation electrodynamics of superinsulators, the answer is yes. In (type II) superconductivity we have two critical field strengths $H_{c1}$ and $H_{c2}$, where for $H_{c1}<H<H_{c2}$ we have the incomplete expulsion which allows for flux pinning. Similarly, in superinsulators we have two critical potential differences $V_{c1}$ and $V_{c2}$. The $V<V_{c1}$ regime leads to the electric Meissner effect with complete field expulsion (just like the Meissner effect in superconductivity). The $V>V_{c2}$ regime destroys the superinsulating state (just like the $H>H_{c2}$ regime for superconductors).

The $V_{c1}<V<V_{c2}$ regime leads to incomplete field expulsion. According to the paper:

...the electric field penetrates the sample in a form of thin electric flux filaments, Polyakov strings, and the current starts passing through.

While this does not explicitly mention any pinning effect, it does not seem unreasonable to suppose that the analagous nature of this situation would lead to the same consequences.