Field emission properties of as-grown multiwalled carbon nanotube films

Multiwalled carbon nanotubes have been produced by ethylene catalytic chemical vapor deposition and used to fabricate thick and dense freestanding films ("buckypapers") by membrane filtering. Field emission properties of buckypapers have been locally studied by means of high vacuum atomic force microscopy with a standard metallic cantilever used as anode to collect electrons emitted from the sample. Buckypapers showed an interesting linear dependence in the Fowler-Nordheim plots demonstrating their suitability as emitters. By precisely tuning the tip-sample distance in the submicron region we found out that the field enhancement factor is not affected by distance variations up to 2um. Finally, the study of current stability showed that the field emission current with intensity of about 3,3*10-5A remains remarkably stable (within 5% fluctuations) for several hours.Comment: 18 pages, 5 figure

Effect of density of state on isotope effect exponent of two-band superconductors

The exact formula of Tc's equation and the isotope effect exponent of two-band s-wave superconductors in weak-coupling limit are derived by considering the influence of two kinds of density of state : constant and van Hove singularity. The pairing interaction in each band consisted of 2 parts : the electron-phonon interaction and non-electron-phonon interaction are included in our model. We find that the interband interaction of electron-phonon show more effect on isotope exponent than the intraband interaction and the isotope effect exponent with constant density of state can fit to an experimental data,MgB2, and high-Tc superconductors, better than van Hove singularity density of state.Comment: 11 pages. accepted in Physica

Specific heat of MgB2_2 in a one- and a two-band model from first-principles calculations

The heat capacity anomaly at the transition to superconductivity of the layered superconductor MgB$_2$ is compared to first-principles calculations with the Coulomb repulsion, $\mu^\ast$, as the only parameter which is fixed to give the measured $T_c$. We solve the Eliashberg equations for both an isotropic one-band and a two-band model with different superconducting gaps on the $\pi$ and $\sigma$ Fermi surfaces. The agreement with experiments is considerably better for the two-band model than for the one-band model.Comment: final published versio

Theory for phonon-induced superconductivity in MgB2_2

We analyze superonductivity in MgB$_2$ observed below $T_c=39$ K resulting from electron-phonon coupling involving a mode at $\hbar \omega_1 = 24$ meV and most importantly the in-plane B-B $E_{2g}$ vibration at $\hbar \omega_2=67$ meV. The quasiparticles originating from $\pi$- and $\sigma$-states couple strongly to the low-frequency mode and the $E_{2g}$-vibrations respectively. Using two-band Eliashberg theory, $\lambda_{\pi} = 1.4$ and $\lambda_{\sigma} = 0.7$, we calculate the gap functions $\Delta^{i}(\omega,0)$ ($i=\pi$, $\sigma$). Our results provide an explanation of recent tunneling experiments. We get $H^{ab}_{c_2}/H^{c}_{c_2} \approx 3.9$.Comment: revised version, accepted for publication in PR

Retention of Two-Band Superconductivity in Highly Carbon-Doped MgB2

Tunneling data on MgB_{1.8}C_{0.2} show a reduction in the energy gap of the pi-bands by a factor of two from undoped MgB2 that is consistent with the Tc reduction, but inconsistent with the expectations of the dirty limit. Dirty-limit theory for undoped MgB2 predicts a single gap about three times larger than measured and a reduced Tc comparable to that measured. Our heavily-doped samples exhibit a uniform dispersion of C suggestive of significantly enhanced scattering, and we conclude that the retention of two-band superconductivity in these samples is caused by a selective suppression of interband scattering.Comment: 4 pages, 4 figures; added one figure, added one reference, minor changes to the text, manuscript accepted for publication as a Phys. Rev. B Rapid Communicatio

Mixed state properties of superconducting MgB2 single crystals

We report on measurements of the magnetic moment in superconducting MgB2 single crystals. We find \mu_0H_{c2}^c(0) = 3.2 T, \mu_0H_{c2}^{ab}(0) = 14.5 T, \gamma = 4.6, \mu_0H_c(0) = 0.28 T, and \kappa(T_c) = 4.7. The standard Ginzburg-Landau and London model relations lead to a consistent data set and indicate that MgB2 is a clean limit superconductor of intermediate coupling strength with very pronounced anisotropy effects

Synthesis and Properties of c-axis Oriented Epitaxial MgB2 Thin Films

We report the growth and properties of epitaxial MgB2 thin films on (0001) Al2O3 substrates. The MgB2 thin films were prepared by depositing boron films via RF magnetron sputtering, followed by a post-deposition anneal at 850C in magnesium vapor. X-ray diffraction and cross-sectional TEM reveal that the epitaxial MgB2 films are oriented with their c-axis normal to the (0001) Al2O3 substrate and a 30 degree rotation in the ab-plane with respect to the substrate. The critical temperature was found to be 35 K and the anisotropy ratio, Hc2(parallel to the film) / Hc2(pendicular to the film), about 3 at 25K. The critical current densities at 4.2 K and 20 K (at 1 T perpendicular magnetic field) are 5x10E6 A/cm2 and 1x10E6 A/cm2, respectively. The controlled growth of epitaxial MgB2 thin films opens a new avenue in both understanding superconductivity in MgB2 and technological applications.Comment: 10 pages, 6 figure

Multiband model for tunneling in MgB2 junctions

A theoretical model for quasiparticle and Josephson tunneling in multiband superconductors is developed and applied to MgB2-based junctions. The gap functions in different bands in MgB2 are obtained from an extended Eliashberg formalism, using the results of band structure calculations. The temperature and angle dependencies of MgB2 tunneling spectra and the Josephson critical current are calculated. The conditions for observing one or two gaps are given. We argue that the model may help to settle the current debate concerning two-band superconductivity in MgB2.Comment: minor corrections, published in Phys. Rev. B 65, 180517(R) (2002

Evidence for High-frequency Phonon Mediated S-wave Superconductivity : 11B-NMR Study of Al-doped MgB2

We report $^{11}$B-NMR study on Al-doped MgB$_2$ that addresses a possible mechanism for a high superconducting (SC) transition temperature ($T_c$) of $\sim 40$ K in recently discovered MgB$_2$. The result of nuclear spin lattice relaxation rate $1/T_1$ in the SC state revealed that the size in the SC gap is not changed by substituting Al for Mg. The reduction on $T_c$ by Al-doping is shown to be due to the decrease of $N(E_F)$. According to the McMillan equation, the experimental relation between $T_c$ and the relative change in $N(E_F)$ allowed us to estimate a characteristic phonon frequency $\omega \sim 700$ K and an electron-phonon coupling constant $\lambda \sim 0.87$. These results suggest that the high-$T_c$ superconductivity in MgB$_2$ is mediated by the strong electron-phonon coupling with high-frequency phonons.Comment: 6pages, 3figure

Multiband model for penetration depth in MgB2

The results of first principles calculations of the electronic structure and the electron-phonon interaction in MgB2 are used to study theoretically the temperature dependence and anisotropy of the magnetic field penetration depth. The effects of impurity scattering are essential for a proper description of the experimental results. We compare our results with experimental data and we argue that the two-band model describes the data rather well.Comment: submitted to Phys. Rev.