[bskdjx]

Yes, somehow.

What they technically did is raise the chemical potential, mu, of the gas phase (the phase with the lowest mu wins). TL/DR, but I'm not too impressed from a theoretical POV.

The problem to replicate this is "what do you do to raise the mu of the non super-conducting phase?". That's not trivial as many things raise the mu of the super conducting phase instead, like applied magnetic fields.