32 research outputs found
Andreev reflections in the pseudogap state of cuprate supercondcutors
We propose that, if the pseudogap state in the cuprate superconductors can be
described in terms of the phase-incoherent preformed pairs, there should exist
Andreev reflection from these pairs even above the superconducting transition
temperature, . After giving qualitative arguments for this effect, we
present more quantitative calculations based on the Bogoliubov--de Gennes
equation. Experimental observations of the effects of Andreev reflections above
---such as an enhanced tunneling conductance below the gap along the
copper oxide plane---could provide unambiguous evidence for the preformed pairs
in the pseudogap state.Comment: 5 pages, 1 figur
NMR and NQR Fluctuation Effects in Layered Superconductors
We study the effect of thermal fluctuations of the s-wave order parameter of
a quasi two dimensional superconductor on the nuclear spin relaxation rate near
the transition temperature Tc. We consider both the effects of the amplitude
fluctuations and the Berezinskii-Kosterlitz-Thouless (BKT) phase fluctuations
in weakly coupled layered superconductors. In the treatment of the amplitude
fluctuations we employ the Gaussian approximation and evaluate the longitudinal
relaxation rate 1/T1 for a clean s-wave superconductor, with and without pair
breaking effects, using the static pair fluctuation propagator D. The increase
in 1/T1 due to pair breaking in D is overcompensated by the decrease arising
from the single particle Green's functions. The result is a strong effect on
1/T1 for even a small amount of pair breaking. The phase fluctuations are
described in terms of dynamical BKT excitations in the form of pancake
vortex-antivortex (VA) pairs. We calculate the effect of the magnetic field
fluctuations caused by the translational motion of VA excitations on 1/T1 and
on the transverse relaxation rate 1/T2 on both sides of the BKT transitation
temperature T(BKT)<Tc. The results for the NQR relaxation rates depend strongly
on the diffusion constant that governs the motion of free and bound vortices as
well as the annihilation of VA pairs. We discuss the relaxation rates for real
multilayer systems where the diffusion constant can be small and thus increase
the lifetime of a VA pair, leading to an enhancement of the rates. We also
discuss in some detail the experimental feasibility of observing the effects of
amplitude fluctuations in layered s-wave superconductors such as the
dichalcogenides and the effects of phase fluctuations in s- or d-wave
superconductors such as the layered cuprates.Comment: 38 pages, 12 figure
Gaussian Tunneling Model of c-Axis Twist Josephson Junctions
We calculate the critical current density for c-axis Josephson
tunneling between identical high temperature superconductors twisted an angle
about the c-axis. We model the tunneling matrix element squared as a
Gaussian in the change of wavevector q parallel to the junction, . The
obtained for the s- and extended-s-wave order parameters (OP's) are consistent
with the BiSrCaCuO data of Li {\it et al.}, but only
for strongly incoherent tunneling, . A -wave OP
is always inconsistent with the data. In addition, we show that the apparent
conventional sum rule violation observed by Basov et al. might be
understandable in terms of incoherent c-axis tunneling, provided that the OP is
not -wave.Comment: 6 pages, 6 figure