Transverse Magnetic Response from Orbitally Polarized Cooper Pairs in Elemental Superconductors

We demonstrate how crystalline symmetry lowering, as for instance through strain, allows elemental superconductors such as vanadium and niobium to realize spin-singlet orbitally polarized Cooper pairs composed of electrons with identical orbital moments. Using superconducting density functional theory, we show that lowering of trigonal symmetry to $C_s$, thus keeping only a single mirror plane, activates interorbital pairing in bulk and (111) surfaces, with a pronounced surface enhancement. In a magnetic field, the resulting orbitally polarized superconducting state leads to a novel transverse magnetic response. For in–plane field orientations that break the remaining mirror symmetry, a sizable orbital magnetization emerges perpendicular to the applied field. We show that this effect is a direct consequence of equal–orbital-moment Cooper pairing, providing an experimentally accessible signature of this state. Our results establish strained elemental superconductors as a minimal material platform for superconducting orbitronics.