3 research outputs found
Pseudogap in a thin film of a conventional superconductor
A superconducting state is characterized by the gap in the electronic density
of states which vanishes at the superconducting transition temperature Tc. It
was discovered that in high temperature superconductors a noticeable depression
in the density of states still remains even at temperatures above Tc; this
feature being called pseudogap. Here we show that a pseudogap exists in a
conventional superconductor: ultrathin titanium nitride films over a wide range
of temperatures above Tc. Our study reveals that this pseudogap state is
induced by superconducting fluctuations and favored by two-dimensionality and
by the proximity to the transition to the insulating state. A general character
of the observed phenomenon provides a powerful tool to discriminate between
fluctuations as the origin of the pseudogap state, and other contributions in
the layered high temperature superconductor compounds.Comment: 26 pages, 4 figure
Keldysh technique and non-linear sigma-model: basic principles and applications
The purpose of this review is to provide a comprehensive pedagogical
introduction into Keldysh technique for interacting out-of-equilibrium
fermionic and bosonic systems. The emphasis is placed on a functional integral
representation of underlying microscopic models. A large part of the review is
devoted to derivation and applications of the non-linear sigma-model for
disordered metals and superconductors. We discuss such topics as transport
properties, mesoscopic effects, counting statistics, interaction corrections,
kinetic equation, etc. The sections devoted to disordered superconductors
include Usadel equation, fluctuation corrections, time-dependent
Ginzburg-Landau theory, proximity and Josephson effects, etc. (This review is a
substantial extension of arXiv:cond-mat/0412296.)Comment: Review: 103 pages, 19 figure
The one dimensional Kondo lattice model at partial band filling
The Kondo lattice model introduced in 1977 describes a lattice of localized
magnetic moments interacting with a sea of conduction electrons. It is one of
the most important canonical models in the study of a class of rare earth
compounds, called heavy fermion systems, and as such has been studied
intensively by a wide variety of techniques for more than a quarter of a
century. This review focuses on the one dimensional case at partial band
filling, in which the number of conduction electrons is less than the number of
localized moments. The theoretical understanding, based on the bosonized
solution, of the conventional Kondo lattice model is presented in great detail.
This review divides naturally into two parts, the first relating to the
description of the formalism, and the second to its application. After an
all-inclusive description of the bosonization technique, the bosonized form of
the Kondo lattice hamiltonian is constructed in detail. Next the
double-exchange ordering, Kondo singlet formation, the RKKY interaction and
spin polaron formation are described comprehensively. An in-depth analysis of
the phase diagram follows, with special emphasis on the destruction of the
ferromagnetic phase by spin-flip disorder scattering, and of recent numerical
results. The results are shown to hold for both antiferromagnetic and
ferromagnetic Kondo lattice. The general exposition is pedagogic in tone.Comment: Review, 258 pages, 19 figure