Magnetic trapping of superconducting submicron particles produced by laser ablation in superfluid helium

We produced spherical superconducting submicron particles by laser ablation of their base metal tips in superfluid helium, and trapped them using a quadrupole magnetic field owing to the diamagnetism caused by the Meissner effect. We also measured their critical temperatures of superconductivity, by observing the threshold temperatures for the confinement of superconducting submicron particles in the trap.