Anomalous Behavior of the Upper Critical Field in Extreme Type-II Superconductors at Low Temperatures

We present a detailed numerical calculation of the upper critical field $H_{c2}(T)$ for a bulk extreme type-II superconductor. Particular emphasis is placed on the high-field, low-temperature regime of the HT-phase diagram. In this regime it is necessary to go beyond the standard semi-classical theory and include the effects of Landau quantization of the electronic motion on the superconducting state. The presence of Landau level quantization induces an upward curvature in $H_{c2}(T)$ at $\sim 10$ of $T_{c0}$ for those superconducting systems in which the slope of $H_{c2}(T)$ at $T_{c0}$ is $\geq$ 0.2 Tesla/Kelvin. We construct a simple analytical model that can account for this behavior based on the renormalization of the BCS coupling constant by the off-diagonal pairing of electrons on Landau levels.Comment: 13 pages, Revtex, 3 ps figures, to appear in Physica

Density of states of a type-II superconductor in a high magnetic field: Impurity effects

We have calculated the density of states $N(\omega)$ of a dirty but homogeneous superconductor in a high magnetic field. We assume a dilute concentration of scalar impurities and find how $N(\omega)$ behaves as one crosses from the weak scattering to the strong scattering limit. At low energies, $N(\omega)\sim \omega ^2$ for small values of the impurity concentration and scattering strength. When the disorder becomes stronger than some critical value, a finite density of states is created at the Fermi surface. These results are a consequence of the gapless nature of the quasiparticle excitation spectrum in a high magnetic field.Comment: 20 pages in RevTeX, 4 figures, to appear in Phys. Rev. B (July 1, 1997

Superconductivity in High Magnetic Field:Excitation Spectrum and Tunneling Properties

The quasiparticle excitation spectrum of a type-II superconductor placed in high magnetic field is shown to be gapless. The gap turns to zero at the points in the MBZ which are in correspondence with the vortex lattice in real space. When the field decreases below certain critical value, branch crossing occur and gaps starts opening up at the Fermi surface.The strong dispersion around gapless points leads to algebraic temperature dependence in the thermodynamic functions and the algebraic voltage dependence in the tunneling conductance between the microscope tip and superconductor in an STM experiment.Comment: 16 pages+$figures (on request), REVTE