  In this paper we use a Ginzburg-Landau approach to show that a suitably
strong electric field can drive a phase transition from a superconductor to a
normal metal. The transition is induced by taking into account corrections to
the permittivity due to the superconductive gap and persists even when
screening effects are considered. We test the model against recent experimental
observations in which a strong electric field has been observed to control the
supercurrent in superconducting thin films. We find excellent agreement with
the experimental data and are able to explain several observed features. We
additionally suggest a way to test our theoretical proposal via
superconductor-superconductor electron tunneling.
