Title: Field-free nucleation of antivortices and giant vortices in non-superconducting materials,
Abstract: Giant vortices with higher phase-winding than $2\pi$ are usually
energetically unfavorable, but geometric symmetry constraints on a
superconductor in a magnetic field are known to stabilize such objects. Here,
we show via microscopic calculations that giant vortices can appear in
intrinsically non-superconducting materials, even without any applied magnetic
field. The enabling mechanism is the proximity effect to a host superconductor
where a current flows, and we also demonstrate that antivortices can appear in
this setup. Our results open the possibility to study electrically controllable
topological defects in unusual environments, which do not have to be exposed to
magnetic fields or intrinsically superconducting, but instead display other
types of order.