Nice-looking $x_i^j$

Question

When I write $x_i^j$, the j is very high up, and it looks ugly. (This problem is especially apparent in the New Century Schoolbook font.)

I know that TeX is capable of automatically lowering it, since for example, $x_i^1$ looks fine. Is there a clean way to fix this?

\documentclass{article}
\usepackage{fouriernc} % use the New Century Schoolbook font
\begin{document}
Contrast $x_i^j$ to $x_i^1$.  Why is the $j$ so high up?
\end{document}

Answer 1

Check below code:

\documentclass{article}
\usepackage{fouriernc} % use the New Century Schoolbook font
\begin{document}
Contrast $x_i^{\smash{j}}$ and $x_i^j$ to $x_i^i$.  Why is the $j$
so high up?
\end{document}