Superconductivity

A systematic study of optical and transport properties of the Hubbard model, based on Metzner and Vollhardt's dynamical mean-field approximation, is reviewed. This model shows interesting anomalous properties that are, in our opinion, ubiquitous to single-band strongly correlated systems (for all spatial dimensions greater than one), and also compare qualitatively with many anomalous transport features of the high-T c cuprates. This anomalous behavior of the normal-state properties is traced to a ``collective single-band Kondo effect,'' in which a quasiparticle resonance forms at the Fermi level as the temperature is lowered, ultimately yielding a strongly renormalized Fermi liquid at zero temperature.

Geometrical metastability, observed in superconducting type I tin flat strips, has been previously proposed as a principle for particle detection. The energy deposition of an incoming beta-particle induces the rupture of the metastability and consequently the penetration of multiquantum flux tubes into a superconducting tin strip. We present here the first absorption spectra from two beta sources, which demonstrate the linearity and energy-resolution of these detectors (presented at the 6th International Workshop on Low Temperature Detectors for Dark Matter and Neutrinos (LTD-6), Interlaken, Switzerland, Sept. 1995)

Recently, Mun this http URL. (Phys. Rev. Lett., 76, 2790 (1996)) have published their results on single crystal YNi_2B_2C, claiming that their experimental observations can be explained in terms of formation of Vortex Glass and Lattice melting. Our experiments, carried out on samples obtained from the SAME source, reveal a much richer phase diagram and span wider regions of experimental parameter space than Mun et. al. that encompasses most of their observations. We speculate that this material has anomalous intrinsic properties and the results cannot be explained by simple models about the flux lattice.

We show that a 2N junction SQUID (Superconducting QUantum Interference Device) made of 2N overdamped, shunted, identical junctions may be described as a system having only 6 degrees of freedom for any N > 2. This is achieved by means of the reduction introduced by Watanabe and Strogatz (Physica D, Vol. 74, (1994) p. 197) for series biased arrays. In our case 6 rather than 3 degrees of freedom are necessary to describe the system, due to the requirement of phase quantization along the superconducting loop constituting the device. Generalization to multijunction parallel arrays is straightforward.

We investigate by numerical simulations the behavior of the power dissipated in a resistive load capacitively coupled to a Josephson flux flow oscillator and compare the results to those obtained for a d.c. coupled purely resistive load. Assuming realistic values for the parameters R and C, both in the high- and in the low-Tc case the power is large enough to allow the operation of such a device in applications.

The vortex contribution to the dc field (H) dependent microwave surface impedance Z_s = R_s+iX_s of YBa_2Cu_3O_{7-x} thin films was measured using suspended patterned resonators. Z_s(H) is shown to be a direct measure of the flux density B(H) enabling a very precise test of models of flux penetration. Three regimes of field-dependent behavior were observed: (1) Initial flux penetration occurs on very low field scales H_i(4.2K) 100Oe, (2) At moderate fields the flux penetration into the virgin state is in excellent agreement with calculations based upon the field-induced Bean critical state for thin film geometry, parametrized by a field scale H_s(4.2K) J_c*d 0.5T, (3) for very high fields H >>H_s, the flux density is uniform and the measurements enable direct determination of vortex parameters such as pinning force constants \alpha_p and vortex viscosity \eta. However hysteresis loops are in disagreement with the thin film Bean model, and instead are governed by the low field scale H_i, rather than by H_s. Geometric barriers are insufficient to account for the observed results.

We show that the density of states in an anisotropic superconductor with intersecting line nodes in the gap function is proportional to Elog(α Δ 0 /E) for |E|<< Δ 0 , where Δ 0 is the maximum value of the gap function and α is constant, while it is proportional to E if the line nodes do not intersect. As a result, a logarithmic correction appears in the temperature dependence of the NMR relaxation rate and the specific heat, which can be observed experimentally. By comparing with those for the heavy fermion superconductors, we can obtain information about the symmetry of the gap function.

We calculate the density of states of a layered superconductor in which there are two layers per unit cell. One of the layers contains a d-wave pairing interaction while the other is a normal metal. The goal of this article is to understand how the d-wave behaviour of the system is modified by the coupling between the layer-types. This coupling takes the form of coherent, single particle tunneling along the c-axis. We find that there are two physically different limits of behaviour, which depend on the relative locations of the Fermi surfaces of the two layer-types. We also discuss the interference between the interlayer coupling and pairing interaction and we find that this interference leads to features in the density of states.

I argue that the ``gap'' recently observed at the Brillouin zone face of cuprate superconductors in photoemission by Marshall et al [Phys. Rev. Lett. 76, 4841 (1996)] and Ding et al [Nature 382, 54 (1996)] is evidence for the decay of the injected hole into a spinon-holon pair.

The high- T c cuprates are possible candidates for d-wave superconductivity, with the Cooper pair wave function belonging to a non-trivial irreducible representation of the lattice point group. We argue that this d-wave symmetry is related to a special form of the fermionic kinetic energy and does not require any novel pairing mechanism. In this context, we present a detailed study of the bound states and resonances formed by two lattice fermions interacting via a non-retarded potential that is attractive for nearest neighbors but repulsive for other relative positions. In the case of strong binding, a pair formed by fermions on adjacent lattice sites can have a small effective mass, thereby implying a high condensation temperature. For a weakly bound state, a pair with non-trivial symmetry tends to be smaller in size than an s-wave pair. These and other findings are discussed in connection with the properties of high- T c cuprate superconductors.